Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: RSA Solutions divided into 2 units

  1. #1
    Member steven's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    West Side!
    Posts
    11,541

    RSA Solutions divided into 2 units

    RSA Solutions Inc. in Amherst has split into two separate businesses in an effort to focus on growth on both sides.

    Effective Dec. 1, the new RSA Solutions Inc. will focus on the analytics and relationship selling side, including mortgage and home equity programs for banks and mortgage companies, as well as the direct broker operations through its subsidiary RSA Mortgage Solutions Inc.

    The automotive side of the business will be known as Fiserv Automotive Solutions Inc. and was created by merging RSA's automotive division with Fiserv LeMans of King of Prussia, Pa. Both are divisions of Fiserv Lending Solutions.

    "There will be a drive to grow both businesses," said Andrew Shaevel, who will continue as president and CEO of RSA Solutions. "Clearly, we're looking to grow both businesses. We see this as a chance to kick back up into a strong gear."

    Co-CEO Stuart Angert will now serve as president of RSA Automotive Solutions with Kevin Collins serving as CEO. Collins, who was president and CEO at Fiserv LeMans, will run the King of Prussia operation.

    Employees from both groups will continue to work side by side from the Williamsville site as they have been, with 170 dedicated to automotive and 150 on the analytics side. The King of Prussia site has 150 employees working on the automotive side. Shaevel said the Amherst site will "definitely" see expanded employment as the business grows.

    Blaming business conditions in the auto industry and a change in business strategies, Shaevel said revenues and employment have fallen about 40 percent from 2002, when RSA had 600 full and part-time. That's meant repaying some incentives to Empire State Development granted when the 140,000-square-foot facility was built in 2001. Shaevel expects to fill the empty desks with new positions: The site can hold about 1,000 employees.

    Shaevel said the company has contacted Ciminelli about subleasing an 18,000-square-foot section of the building that is currently undeveloped.

    Founded as Remarketing Services of America Inc. in 1991, RSA changed its name last summer to reflect the expanded scope of its relationships with the financial services industry. Partly as a result of changes in the auto leasing market, it expanded from its core business of automotive remarketing and portfolio management into finance, mortgages and home equity lending, retail and commercial banking and custom contact center programs.

    "Good companies evolve and grow," Shaevel said. "We see this new business that we're developing having a market size in excess of $1 billion. If our share could be a couple hundred million, that'd be great. That's what we're aiming for."

    RSA made a successful pitch to Fiserv in September to validate the prototype model and move forward with the reorganization.

    "It's a virtual start-up again," Shaevel said. "We're developing a whole new business model around acquiring, retaining and growing customer relationships with mortgage brokers and lenders."

    Calling it a "very well-funded start-up," Shaevel said the company has invested $5 million in new technology to run the new business.

    Since 2001, RSA has been a division of Fiserv Inc., a full-service provider of integrated data processing and information management systems to the financial industry. Based in Brookfield, Wis., Fiserv serves more than 13,000 financial services providers worldwide.

    http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/s...ml?jst=b_ln_hl
    People who wonder if the glass is half empty or full miss the point. The glass is refillable.

  2. #2
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    17,449
    Smells like a setup to eventually have the automotive side take its jobs elsewhere.

  3. #3
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Elma
    Posts
    1,465
    Here's what I don't get...

    You have two guys - Schaevel and Angert, who are Buffalonians that started up a highly successful business. Their corporate culture was excellent, they offered good money and benefits to people who would otherwise be struggling to find jobs in the area, and they were extraordinarily successful. They hire 300 employees, move into a humongous building, and become the talk of the town. Then, they sell themselves out to Fiserv...

    Why, after all the work they did successfully building a company from the ground up, would they sell themselves into being controlled by a "parent company"? Now, they have to watch their business be dismantled by the parent.

    It would be interesting to see what happens to the business. I'd be willing to bet that either Angert or Schaevel ends up quitting and starts a spin-off business and Fiserv ends up relocating most of the jobs to areas with lower taxes.

  4. #4
    Member SolarEclipse's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Holland, NY
    Posts
    887
    Don't know in this case, but generally it's either the fact that the originators don't know how to grow the business so they look for outside help, or they're offered a lot of money for the business they already built and can't refuse to take it.

  5. #5
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    17,449
    Originally posted by ERIEMAN

    Why, after all the work they did successfully building a company from the ground up, would they sell themselves into being controlled by a "parent company"?
    Tens of millions of dollars maybe.

    An incredible amount of guys thats start businesses do it for one reason - the exit strategy.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •