British utility bill payments services provider PayPoint has agreed to buy card payments and card terminal leasing businesses Handepay and Merchant Rentals from a consortium of private investors.
The company will pay £70m on a cash free debt free basis for the deal. The acquisition awaits regulatory approvals.
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The combination of the businesses will result in the creation of a national card payments business with a diverse customer base. This includes over 30,000 SMEs across the grocery, auto trade, clothing, household goods and hospitality sectors.
Furthermore, it will also enable PayPoint to expand its customer proposition, accelerating its growth prospects in the UK cards space.
PayPoint CEO Nick Wiles said: “Our acquisition of Handepay and Merchant Rentals will significantly increase our card payments capability and broaden our SME customer base.
“This important step refocuses PayPoint towards a core growth area and creates synergies through cross selling of other PayPoint services and leveraging the scale of the combined business.”
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By GlobalDataAs part of the deal, Handepay chief commercial officer Mark Latham will become part of PayPoint’s executive board as card services director. He will manage the combined cards portfolio.
In addition, Handepay sales director Ian Kennedy will spearhead both the PayPoint and Handepay sales teams.
Upon deal completion in January next year, Handepay CEO Andy Peake will become consultant to PayPoint.
Peak said: “The whole team are excited to be joining the PayPoint Group and benefiting from the scale, expertise and market leadership that they have built in omni-channel payments and technology over the last 24 years.”
