By Jeff McKinney
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Intrieve Inc. of Cincinnati plans to buy St. Louis-based Professional Check Systems Inc., one of the nation's largest suppliers of in-house check printing systems.

While Intrieve declined to disclose sales terms, the privately held company called the acquisition its largest ever.

The company said the deal will allow it to grow its customer base to more than 800 financial institutions in 47 states, boost annual revenue by about 18 percent and put Intrieve into a new business line.

Jack Kuntz, Intrieve's president and chief executive, said the deal will bring his company 350 new financial clients.

The deal also lets Intrieve, which mainly provides data-processing solutions to about 440 small banks, thrifts and credit unions, to offer check production to its client base, creating a new revenue stream. Intrieve also will market its data processing services to Professional Check Systems' clients.

Kuntz said the acquisition is expected to boost Intrieve's annual revenue to $52 million by 2005, up from about $44 million today.

Kuntz said the Professional Check Systems deal is larger than the combined value of Intrieve's three previous acquisitions since March 2001, about a year after he took control of the company. Revenue in 2001 was about $25 million, he said.

Kuntz also said Intrieve's latest deal is part of a long-term goal to boost annual revenue to $100 million by 2008 through additional acquisitions and internal expansion.

He said Professional Check Systems will keep its name, operate as a division of Intrieve and retain its 16 employees. Kuntz said the acquisition will not immediately add jobs at Intrieve, but could later as the company expands. Intrieve employs about 230 people nationally, including about 180 in downtown Cincinnati.

E-mail jmckinney@enquirer.com