American Express to Sell Off First Data : Financial: Company will unload bulk of its information services unit in its second public offering in a year.

American Express Co. said Friday that it will sell the bulk of its stake in its information services unit in a public offering for more than $1 billion.

American Express said it will sell 32 million common shares of First Data Corp. at $35.125 each, which was Thursday’s closing price on the New York Stock Exchange.

“American Express intends to use the sale proceeds for general corporate purposes,” the travel and financial services company said in a statement.

Just last April, the company sold about half its shares in First Data in an initial public offering.

It let 50.6 million of the shares go in the IPO at $22 each. In that deal, American Express sold 46.6 million shares, and First Data sold 4 million. It said the money raised in the deal would also be used for “general corporate purposes.”

American Express was then left with 59.4 million shares, or 54%, of which it is now seeking to sell 32 million shares that will raise up to $1.2 billion.

A registration statement was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the sale, but it has not yet become effective. Only afterward can the shares be sold.

American Express said it will offer 25 million shares in the United States through an underwriting group led by its Lehman Bros. subsidiary.

Another 5 million shares will be offered in Europe and the remainder in Asia.

The money to be raised in the current deal excludes underwriting fees, commissions and other expenses. It is also contingent on whether an option to sell an additional 3.2 million shares is used.

Shares of American Express on Friday ended up 50 cents to $25.625 on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of First Data ended down 62.5 cents to $34.50.