Fleetcor Will Expand Cross-Border Payments With Pending U.K. Acquisition

In a diversification move, business-to-business payments provider Fleetcor Technologies Inc. reported Thursday it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Global Reach Group, a London-based cross-border payments provider.

Terms of the deal were not announced, and a Fleetcor spokesperson could not be reached for comment Friday. Atlanta-based Fleetcor expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter.

Fleetcor is best known for its fleet fuel card business, but the Global Reach acquisition will be the company’s second major deal in the cross-border space in a year. In June 2021, Fleetcor bought Associated Foreign Exchange (AFEX), a U.S.-based cross-border payments provider for small and mid-sized businesses, for $459.8 million. AFEX at the time had more than 35,000 customers and over $22 billion in annual volume from processing payments in over 100 currencies.

Fleetcor’s cross-border payment services help businesses pay international vendors, foreign office and personnel expenses, and capital expenditures, among other functions. 

“With the [Global Reach] acquisition, Fleetcor increases its cross-border payments scale and strengthens its position as one of the largest non-bank global cross-border providers in the world,” the company said in a news release. “Global Reach Group serves customers of all sizes by facilitating international payments. With thousands of corporate clients primarily in the United Kingdom and Canada, the acquisition provides an overlapping footprint to Fleetcor’s current cross-border payments business.”

Chairman and chief executive Ron Clarke added that “Global Reach is a fantastic addition to our existing cross-border business that can be quickly integrated into our global business.”

Fleet-fueling services brought in $1.18 billion for Fleetcor in 2021, or 42% of the company’s total revenues of $2.83 billion, down from 44% in 2020, according Fleetcor’s annual report. Corporate payments, which include cross-border payments, generated $600 million, or 21% of 2021 revenues, up from 18% a year earlier, the report says. Remaining 2021 revenues came from tolling, lodging, gift cards, and other businesses. Fleetcor spent $1.86 billion on acquisitions from 2017 through 2021, according to a company investor presentation.