2019 was undoubtedly the year of mergers and acquisitions for the global payments industry! We saw mega-mergers like Fidelity National/Worldpay, Fiserv/First Data Corp, and Global Payments/TSYS top headlines.
And to close the round of consolidations this year, Elavon announced in mid-November that it would take over Sage Pay—a payment gateway that contends with well-liked services like PayPal and Stripe.
Elavon, the payments company under US Bancorp, will swallow London-based Sage Pay (owned by Sage Group) in a cash transaction worth $300 million or £232 million.
Sage Pay 41 million GBP (2018) serves businesses in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain, while Elavon has a toe hold in up to 10 nations. The latter is also number four in the list of European merchant acquirers contending against the firms like Global Payments, MasterCard, FIS, Visa Ingenico, and Stripe.
The transaction— which is still in regulatory scrutiny by the US Fed Reserve and the Central Bank of Ireland— is anticipated to finalize in the second quarter of 2020.
Sage Group is willing to let go of Sage Pay— its payments segment—because the move is line with the company’s new vision to shift to Accounting, Payroll, and Financials Solutions packaged in the form of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).
“Our dream is to be a global SaaS firm for customers and colleagues and keep serving small and medium-sized customers with software solutions for Accounting & Financials and People & Payroll,” clarified Sage Group’s Boss Steve Hare.
“Payment services are secondary but still central to our organization, and we will keep offering such services through our expanding link of associates like Elavon.”
Elavon, on the other hand, plans to expand its footprint in European online marketplaces by taking advantage of Britain and Ireland, where Sage Pay is already in use.
“The acquirement of Sage Pay adds incredible potential, skillset and high-end tech to Elavon, which we can use to benefit customers all over Europe,” said Hannah Fitzsimons, Boss of Elavon Merchant Service, Europe.
Conclusion
The transformation of ecommerce, changing customer needs, and the increasing demand for all-inclusive payment solutions are some of the forces driving the mergers and acquisitions we saw in the payment industry this year.
Market players are working to provide shoppers with fast, secure, and all-inclusive payment solutions that allow buyers to manage finances in one platform and make payments on the go, anytime the need to.
Retailers, on the other hand, are shifting towards comprehensive merchant services complete with a payment solution and a ready, secure gateway for seamless collection of payments—which these mergers are working towards.
Author Bio: Payment industry guru Taylor Cole is a passionate payments expert who understands the complex world of merchant accounts and sagepay review. He also writes non-fiction, on subjects ranging from personal finance to stocks to cryptopay. He enjoys eating pie in his backyard porch, as should all right thinking people.
