Nashville, Tenn.-based independent sales organization iPayment Inc. expects on Wednesday to close on its $55 million cash acquisition of an agent-bank portfolio from First Data Corp. The portfolio consists of 18,000 small merchant accounts controlled by 170 agent banks and generating about $4 billion in annual card volume. First Data …

While First Data Corp. vows to contest action by the Department of Justice to stop its acquisition of Concord EFS, industry observers say the Denver-based processing giant may have good reason to fight for a stronger position in the market for debit transactions secured by personal identification numbers. The $7.3 …

One of the electronic transactions industry’s most active buyers of independent sales organizations and other transaction-services firms says the steady flow of transaction revenue these businesses generate is attracting increasing interest from pension funds and private-equity players, thus driving up valuations. TransFirst, a Dallas-based processor that has grown from 2.5 …