No final decision has been made, and talks may still fall apart, bloomberg reports, citing a number of various sources. Heartland rose as much as 22% in New York. It has a market value of more than USD 3 billion. Global Payments climbed as much as 7.2%.
Card-processing companies have been rushing to consolidate as they seek to tap into growth sparked by a rising number of retailers offering online and mobile shopping. Atos SE, a French computer-services provider, is considering making an offer for Atlanta-based EVO Payments International, while Worldpay Group Plc was the subject of offers from peers Ingenico Group SA and Wirecard AG before being listed by its private equity backers in October, 2015.
Global Payments had about 2.9% of the global transactions processing market in 2014, while Heartland had about 2.1%, according to The Nilson Report, an industry trade publication and data service. Global Payments went public in 2001 and has completed at least 20 acquisitions valued at almost GBP 2.8 billion in the past 15 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Heartland would be its largest takeover yet, the data show, the source cites.
The company is interested in buying businesses that can either deliver new technology, extend its reach into new geographic markets or shore up its position in places where it already operates, Cameron Bready, its chief financial officer, said during an investor conference this month in New York hosted by Credit Suisse Group AG.
Heartland, which processed its first card transaction in 1997, now provides payment services to more than 250,000 business locations in the US, and is the sixth-largest processor in the country by transaction volume.
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