First Data Corp. to Acquire Utilities CIS Software Company Peace Software

First Data Corp., a global leader in electronic commerce payments services with revenue of more than $10 billion, today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Peace Software, a leading Customer Information System (CIS) product company that develops advanced software for managing utility billing and customer care.

Peace has developed a feature-rich, scalable off-the-shelf CIS software product, Peace™, which has been installed and is operating at major utilities in 35 regulated and competitive electricity, gas and water markets around the world.

“The acquisition of Peace is the cornerstone of First Data’s strategy to provide a comprehensive, integrated, meter-to-cash solution to the global utilities market,” said David Bailis, executive vice president, First Data Corp. “We determined that Peace is the most advanced CIS product in the market today, and we plan to continue to develop and strengthen the Peace line of software products in the years to come.”

“Being in the First Data family will enable Peace to evolve our software products at a faster pace using the latest technologies and industry best practices,” said Sebastian J. Gunningham, chief executive officer, Peace Software. “In addition, First Data’s comprehensive range of outsourcing, electronic commerce and payment services will provide utilities more options to lower their overall cost. The coupling of our world-class CIS and industry knowledge with First Data’s demonstrated expertise in secure, high-volume, high-value transaction processing and data center management will result in a compelling value proposition to the worldwide utilities market.”

The transaction remains subject to certain legal and regulatory approvals. Subject to these approvals, First Data anticipates closing the transaction in the third quarter of 2006.

Financial terms were not disclosed.