<p>Holding company M&F Worldwide Corp. Wednesday said it would buy the much larger John H. Harland Co. check-printing and software firm for $1.7 billion, or $52.75 a share in cash.</p><p>The purchase price represents a premium of 19 percent over John Harland's Tuesday closing share price of $44.47. M&F said it expects to finance the acquisition with new borrowings. A spokesman from the company couldn't comment further.</p><p>New York-based M&F Worldwide _ 38 percent owned by financier Ron Perelman's MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. _ is the parent company of check provider Clarke American and Mafco Worldwide Corp., which makes licorice products for the tobacco, food, and other industries.</p><p>In midday trading New York Stock Exchange, Decatur, Ga.-based John H. Harland shares rose $5.73, or 13 percent, to $50.20. M&F shares rose 90 cents, or 4.9 percent to $19.20.</p><p>The deal combines two of the last major print checking companies in the United States, a business that has seen a steady drop as check use has declined in favor of credit cards, D.A. Davidson analyst John Kraft said.</p><p>"Perelman's M&F is practically private equity, and he's probably looking at (Harland) and thinking it's making a lot of cash, and he can manage the decline," Kraft said.</p><p>John Harland rival Shoreview, Minn.-based Deluxe Corp. saw its shares rise 89 cents, or 3.8 percent to $24.39 on the NYSE.</p><p>Last year, John Harland earned $75.5 million, or $2.69 a share, on revenue of $982.9 million. It has a market capitalization of $1.1 billion.</p><p>Meanwhile, M&F Worldwide earned $24 million in 2005, or $1.21 a share, on revenue that rose 23 percent to $121.4 million. The company has a market cap of $368.2 million.</p><p>The merger is expected to close in the second half of 2007, and has a termination fee of $52.5 million.</p>
