What to make of Fidelity Investments paying $250 million out of the blue for eMoney

Fidelity Investments is buying eMoney, a 270 person wealth management software company, for $250m. Fidelity says that they have no intention of using the data from the acquisition to solicit customers of eMoney clients.

A third of Fidelity's client's use eMoney and the firm plans to apply the technology to all the channels it serves - including perhaps the retail and 401k businesses.

Other eMoney users remain concerned. Prior to the acquisition, eMoney was custodian-agnostic and this new partnership may mean a competitive advantage for Fidelity affiliated RIAs.

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The Boston-based investments giant is [reportedly] paying $250 million for the Conshohocken, Pa.-based planning software technology company. It looks like magnificent a horse trade for Edmond Walters, founder and chief executive of the 270-employee company. eMoney Advisor was acquired by Cherry Hill, N.J.-based Commerce Bancorp for $32 million in stock in 2006, at which time its revenue was reported to be $10 million. It was sold back to Walters and other investors about when TD Bank bought Commerce Bancorp in 2008 for an undisclosed amount. This time Fidelity is paying more than $250 million for eMoney, about four times the software firm’s approximately $60-million in revenue, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

http://www.riabiz.com/a/5029765031395328/what-to-make-of-fidelity-investments-paying-250-million-out-of-the-blue-for-emoney