Mergers & Acquisitions

January, 2020

• 29 January

  Mastercard Reports Strong Volume Growth, but Is Keeping an Eye on the Coronavirus

  

  Mastercard Inc. on Wednesday reported double-digit growth in fourth-quarter purchase volume and transactions, but reduced economic activity from the Coronavirus that originated in China could put a crimp on growth early this year. “We’ll take this as it comes, one step at a time,” Mastercard chief executive Ajay Banga said …
• 24 January

  WEX Makes Two Acquisitions and other Digital Transactions News brief from 1/24/20

  

  WEX Inc., a processor in the fleet-fueling and corporate transaction market, said it has agreed to acquire eNett, a business-to-business payments software company specializing in the travel market, and Optal, a specialist provider of B2B transactions, for approximately $1.275 billion in cash and approximately 2 million shares of WEX common …
• 22 January

  Another Libra Departure and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/22/20

  

  British telecommunications giant Vodafone Group Plc has become the latest Libra participant to withdraw from the controversial digital-currency project initiated by Facebook Inc., Reuters reported. Other early participants that have withdrawn include Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Stripe, and eBay.With an eye on expanding its Bitcoin services, merchant processor Square Inc. said it is developing what it calls …
• 17 January

  2019 Holiday Sales Increased 4.1% and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/17/20

  

  The National Retail Federation reported 2019’s holiday retail sales grew 4.1% over the same period in 2018 to $730.2 billion. Online and other non-store sales rose 14.6% to $167.8 billion and are included in the totalE-commerce services and payments provider Shopify Inc. is offering new businesses what it calls “starter loans” of $200 through …
• 15 January

  U.S. Bancorp’s Merchant Volume Rises 10% While BofA Sees Big Zelle Growth

  

  U.S. Bancorp, owner of the big merchant acquirer Elavon Inc., reported Wednesday that its fourth-quarter 2019 merchant volume rose 10.5% year-over-year on a nearly 14% increase in transactions. And U.S. Bancorp rival Bank of America Corp. said its volume for the Zelle person-to-person payments service jumped 76%. Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp …
• 15 January

  Visa Invests in Very Good Security and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/15/20

  

  Data-security provider Very Good Security (VGS) announced an investment by Visa Inc. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.In related news, Visa announced it has met its goal to use 100% renewable electricity by 2020 across its worldwide operations. Visa set the goal in 2018.Google said it acquired Pointy, a company that helps local retailers …
• 14 January

  How Visa’s Post-Card Payments Ambitions Led It to a $5.3 Billion Deal for Plaid

  

  Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. have made it plain in recent years they’re interested in something much bigger than card payments. On Monday afternoon, Visa underscored its own determination to be the network for the world’s payments economy by announcing it will lay out fully $5.3 billion to buy Plaid …
• 14 January

  Fiserv Aims for a Marketing Home Run by Putting Clover’s Name on a Stadium

  

  Fiserv Inc. is breaking new ground, at least in the payments industry, by putting not its company name but the brand of one of its leading products on a stadium. The processor announced Monday that First Data Field, a 7,000-seat stadium in Port St. Lucie, Fla., where the New York …
• 6 January

  MoneyGram Notes Growth and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/6/20

  

  MoneyGram International Inc. announced online transactions grew more than 70% year-over-year between Dec. 1 and Dec. 25, a record growth rate for that period. The money-transfer provider, which did not report the actual transaction volume, said 80% of the transactions were initiated on a mobile device.PayPal Holdings Inc. has closed on its …
• 3 January

  Payment Stocks Sputtered Toward 2019’s End, but They Still Outperformed the Market for the Year

  

  Payment-company stocks lost ground as a group in December and didn’t match the major market indexes in the fourth quarter, but they still bested the indexes for all of 2019, according to a new report. Twenty-six electronic-transaction processor stocks monitored by Chicago-based Barrington Research Associates Inc. posted a negative mean …