Paysafe emerges as one of the largest payment processors in the U.S.

Paysafe, a leading global payments provider, today announces that it has agreed to acquire iPayment Holdings, Inc. (“iPayment”), a U.S. based provider of payment and processing solutions for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). The acquisition forms part of Paysafe’s previously stated investment strategy to expand its presence in North America in response to significant growth opportunities, particularly in the fast-growing SMB sector.

This latest U.S. based investment builds on Paysafe’s acquisition last August of SMB payments provider, Merchant Choice Payment Solutions (“MCPS”), as well as its high-profile sponsorship of North America’s IndyCar series, and will establish Paysafe as a top 5 non-bank payment processor in the U.S.

With more than 137,000 merchant customers as well as annual processing volumes of over $28 billion in 2017, iPayment is an established leader in the U.S. based payment processing industry. The company operates both direct and indirect sales channels and is a well-respected provider and partner for hundreds of agents, sub-ISOs and software developers specialising in the SMB sector. iPayment employs over 450 employees across its four U.S. offices located in Boston, Massachusetts; Westlake Village and Camarillo, California; and Minden, Nevada.

The integration of iPayment with Paysafe will bring merchants, partners, consumers and platforms more product choice via an integrated payments platform which includes point of sale (POS) solutions, order ahead purchases and payments, as well as online payment products such as Paysafe’s leading prepaid solution, paysafecard.

Joel Leonoff, Paysafe’s President and CEO, commented: “This targeted acquisition is part of our long-term investment strategy to grow our business in North America and builds on our other successful acquisitions over the past couple of years.”

Leonoff added: “iPayment is an excellent strategic fit with Paysafe in terms of its comprehensive product offering, customer-centric focus and overall strategic vision. By bringing our two organisations together, we will be able to further strengthen our wide-ranging payments processing suite and expose it to a broader audience of merchants and consumers. We are all looking forward to the multiple opportunities this combination brings to the market.”

“This agreement marks a very exciting day for our organisation,” noted OB Rawls IV, CEO and President, iPayment, Inc. He added: “Since joining iPayment two years ago, we have delivered strong EBITDA growth and expanded our footprint into new key verticals. This acquisition will drive significant value for our collective customers and partners.”

Todd Linden, CEO of Paysafe’s Payment Processing Division in North America, will lead the merged payment processing organisation at completion. Linden brings over 30 years of industry experience and was previously CEO of MCPS. Rawls, along with iPayment CFO, Robert Purcell, will both remain with the organisation at completion as key members of Paysafe’s payments leadership team.

The acquisition is expected to complete in Q2, 2018, pending final regulatory approvals. Until then, the two groups will continue to operate as independent organisations.

RBC Capital Markets, LLC is acting as lead financial adviser to Paysafe on the acquisition. Credit Suisse also provided financial advice and is leading the debt financing. Stikeman Elliott LLP and Paul Hastings LLP are serving as Paysafe’s legal counsel on the acquisition while Latham & Watkins LLP is acting as Paysafe’s legal counsel on the financing. For iPayment, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is acting as exclusive financial advisor and Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP is serving as legal counsel.