MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Metavante Corp.'s flurry of recent acquisitions and its growing financial contribution to parent company Marshall & Ilsley Corp.'s bottom line have revived questions about the possibility of a spin-off. 

While Metavante and M&I executives recently said "no" to a near-term spin-off, according to a report in the Milwaukee Business Journal, some industry analysts believe separation could lead to greater profitability for Metavante.

Metavante's four most recent purchases, totaling roughly $1 billion, have taken the Brown Deer, Wis., firm into new service areas.

They include NYCE Corp., a Montvale, N.J., ATM and point-of-service network purchased in May for $610 million; bank software company Kirchman Corp., Orlando, Fla., and check imaging firm Advanced Financial Solutions Inc., Oklahoma City, Okla., acquired in May and April, respectively, for a combined $305 million; and Printing for Systems Inc., a Madison, Conn., health care and insurance card firm acquired in December 2003 for an undisclosed price.

M&I executives estimated during a recent conference call that Metavante's contribution to M&I could jump from 29 percent of the financial corporation's $2.4 billion in revenue for 2003 to as much as 38 percent by 2005, based on potential revenue for the acquired firms, according to the Business Journal.

That may give Metavante sufficient financial and market strength for an initial public offering. But market conditions today differ from those in 2000, when Metavante stopped short of an IPO as the technology market began crumbling. Despite some recovery, bank stock values continue to outpace those of technology stocks, causing M&I executives to keep Metavante close to the vest.

M&I has no intention of putting Metavante back on the block, the bank's top executives said.

"We would fully expect Metavante to be part of the organization for an indefinite period of time," said M&I chief financial officer Mark Furlong in a May 21 conference call.

Dennis Kuester, M&I president and chief executive officer, said at a May 13 Lehman Brothers conference in London that, until technology stock values exceed those of banks, Metavante is not for sale.

Unlike previous Metavante purchases, generally of smaller companies that were absorbed into Metavante's operations, the new acquisitions will operate as stand-alone firms, said Frank Martire, Metavante's president and chief executive officer.

The acquisitions expand the firm's services to include a wider array of electronic delivery options, which may help if Metavante decides to approach the public market again, said Richard Bove, an analyst with Hoefer & Arnett Inc., San Francisco. One of Metavante's shortfalls in 2000 was insufficient preparation for an industry moving to Internet-driven financial services, Bove said.