The sale of Insurance Management Solutions Group of St. Petersburg to Fiserv Inc. hasn't been in doubt since the deal was announced in April.
After all, the parent company of the insurance outsourcing outfit, Bankers Insurance, holds a majority stake and has endorsed the sale.
So why is it taking so long for shareholders to vote on it?
Thank the newly emboldened Securities and Exchange Commission and its heightened level of scrutiny after a spate of accounting scandals among the public companies it oversees.
In the old days, IMSG chief executive David Howard said SEC filings routinely passed through the required 10-day review period without comment from the regulators. Even the sale of IMSG's flood mapping business made it through the feds in a couple of weeks.
Not so with the Fiserv deal.
"This is the only filing we've ever had that we've had the SEC come back" with questions, Howard said, adding that all the regulatory issues were minor ones about phrasing in documents.
Nevertheless, those issues took months to resolve. Twice, IMSG pushed back a shareholder vote on the sale.
Howard understands the SEC's newfound diligence but he sees a backlash to it.
"For the companies in the Tampa Bay area that are small public companies, it takes a lot of your management staff time and expense," he said, predicting that other small companies may opt to stay private to avoid such hassle.
Howard can feel free to voice his concerns now. Last week, with the sign-off of the SEC in hand, he set a shareholder vote for Sept. 23.
