Fair, Isaac/HNC Eye Analytics

In a deal that is expected to boost its presence in the insurance technology market, as well as reinforce its lead in consumer marketing and fraud detection, Fair, Isaac and Co. (San Rafael, CA) announced plans for an $810 million acquisition of analytic software provider HNC Software (San Diego).

The acquisition, says Larry Rosenberger, vice president of research & development and analytics, Fair, Isaac, is the result of Fair, Isaac's search for a complementary company with similar missions and capabilities. "Both are analytic companies, but our pockets of expertise are in different areas," he says. "On a product level, HNC is focused on claims and fraud and Fair, Isaac on marketing and underwriting." Also, HNC's capabilities lie in the use of transactional data.

A combined team of Fair, Isaac and HNC leaders headed by Mark Pautsch, Fair, Isaac's vice president of product development, will manage the integration. Among the integration challenges, says Rosenberger, are management of human capital. Also, the companies will have to sort through some of their respective analytic technologies to avoid redundancies.