BROOKFIELD, Wis. -- After years of serial buying, Fiserv Inc. is selling.

The company that built itself into a financial services technology powerhouse with 147 acquisitions since it was founded in 1984 says it is planning to sell "substantially all" of its health-related businesses to UnitedHealthcare for $775 million in cash, pending regulatory approval.

The deal will allow Fiserv to concentrate on what many might call its core competency--financial services. The company is by far the largest provider of core processing and related services to credit unions, with seven different units specializing in that space, and has a wide array of similar operations serving banks, investment operations and insurance companies.

"Now," says Jeffery Yabuki, president and CEO, "Fiserv will be completely focused on expanding its technology leadership position across the financial services landscape."

Fiserv had total revenues of $4.5 billion in fiscal 2006 with more than 23,000 employees and more than 18,000 client companies worldwide. Fiserv Health provides services to more than 2 million end users, the company says.

UnitedHealthcare, part of Minneapolis-based United Health Group, provides health care services to more than 26 million people through more than 535,000 health-care professionals and 4,700 hospitals nationwide. The parent company reported revenues of nearly $72 billion in fiscal 2006.

Included in the sale are the Fiserv Health Plan Administration, the nation's largest third-party administrator of self-funded health plans; Fiserv Health Plan Management, an outsourcing service for mid-sized health plans and health-care payer organizations; Innoviant, a prescription benefits administrator; Innoviant Pharmacy, a prescription mail-order service; Avidyn Health, a care-management company; and four other components of Fiserv Health's ancillary businesses.

Fiserv says it's keeping its workers' compensation services organization, which includes the recently announced WorkingRx acquisition, as well as CareGain Inc., a technology business that services health banking solutions. Health savings accounts, for instance, fall under that category.

"Over the last year, we have put together a

powerful combination of solutions to enhance our value proposition for clients, employees and

shareholders," Yabuki says.

"We intend to operate businesses where we bring unique market value through our technology solutions and product integration. Additionally, through recently announced acquisitions such as CheckFree, we are both expanding our payments leadership position and delivering best-in-class solutions for clients," he says.

Yabuki says, in addition to concentrating on financial services, the sale was appealing because of United Healthcare's extensive network management capabilities and specialty offerings.

He also says, "I believe that our employees will have enhanced career opportunities with United Healthcare."

UnitedHealthcare says Fiserv Health's current management "will play a key role in the leadership of the combined businesses."

Ken Burdick, UnitedHealthcare's president and CEO, also says, "Fiserv Health has a set of strategic and well-positioned businesses, a strong management team and talented employees who consistently deliver excellent customer service.

"Combining Fiserv Health's vibrant assets and capabilities with those we currently offer will produce an expanded suite of services for customers seeking dedicated, customized benefit packages.

"We look forward to welcoming Fiserv Health's businesses and employees into the United Healthcare family and to working together to provide even more valuable services to our combined customer base."

Fiserv says it expects to net about $475 million in the sale, which is expected to be completed by March.

[email protected]