In the 100th acquisition since its founding 17 years ago, Fiserv Inc. announced that it has acquired Remarketing Services of America Inc., based in Amherst, N.Y.

Remarketing Services of America (RSA) processes car leases by taking over when the lease is ready to expire and dealing with everything from contacting the car owner to selling the turned-in cars.

RSA manages the portfolios for more than 300,000 vehicles and $3.2 billion in transactions each year for banks, financial institutions, auto manufacturers and finance companies. RSA is expected to add $25 million in annual revenue to Fiserv.

Remarketing Services employs more than 500 people. It had been an affiliate of Germany-based DaimlerChrysler AG.

Fiserv employs 14,000 people.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The purchase is the fourth by Fiserv so far in 2001.

Leslie Muma, Fiserv's president and chief executive officer, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel RSA is poised to grow as banks decide they no longer want to handle car-lease remarketing in-house.

"A key thing about this particular niche is that only about 15 percent of the banks outsource this function that we provide with RSA," he said.

DaimlerChrysler was looking to sell the company and approached Fiserv through a broker, according to Muma.

Fiserv provides data processing and information management systems to the financial industry.

RSA will continue to be based near Buffalo, where it is about to move into a new headquarters to accommodate a growing work force, according to Muma. Current management will remain in place and no impact on employment is expected from the purchase, he said.

Fiserv already serves the automation needs of automotive financing through its Fiserv LeMans Group, a provider of vehicle leasing software and services.

Since its founding in 1984, Fiserv has not let a year pass without buying at least two companies. It was most actively buying in 1998-'99, when Fiserv added 22 companies to its lineup.

According to Muma, Fiserv's growth will continue to take place through acquisitions.