Two new deals, from First Data and TNS Inc.

First Data Corp.’s TeleCheck Services Inc. unit has bought ClearCheck Inc., which sells and services return check management systems, for an undisclosed sum. The ClearCheck business will become part of First Data’s Commercial Services division. (Contact: First Data, 713-331-7359)

TNS Inc. was tendered a non-binding buy-out proposal on March 13, 2006, from a management group led by Chairman and Chief Executive John J. McDonnell Jr. at $22 a share in cash, or about $527 million. Capital IQ rates TNS’s enterprise value at $579 million. The company has formed a Special Committee of its Board of Directors to negotiate the deal, and hired Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. as its financial advisor. A class action suit was filed on March 13 against TNS and its directors trying to enjoin the deal on grounds that TNS’s directors violated their fiduciary duties in the deal. TNS operates computer networks, including ATM networks. (Contact: TNS Inc., 703-453-8509)