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Payments provider Celero Commerce has acquired Community Bankers Merchant Services, a provider of electronic transaction processing through community and regional banks across the country. Terms of the deal, announced late Thursday, were not disclosed.
The acquisition of CBMS will open the door for Celero to provide processing services to merchants in the medical and government sectors, two markets the Nashville, Tenn.-based processor currently does not serve. The deal also strengthens Celero’s current technology, company officials said.
“We are adding two powerful markets with this acquisition,” Celero’s chief executive and founder, Kevin Jones, tells Digital Transactions News. “These verticals add value to our offerings, will help grow our community-bank relationships, and will serve as a point of differentiation.”
The deal is also a good fit from a geographic standpoint, as Springdale, Ark.-based Community Bankers Merchant Services has several strong partners in the Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas region, where Celero also maintains a strong presence, Jones says.
The addition of Community Bankers Merchant Services will boost the number of merchants serviced by Celero to more than 53,000 nationwide, and will raise its annual card volume processed to more than $21 billion, according to figures the company released late Thursday. Celero provides payment-processing services, business management software, and data intelligence to small and medium-size businesses.
But what could prove equally important for the two organizations is a cultural fit between them, Jones say, adding this was an important factor in the deal. “At the heart of every acquisition we make is culture. It’s a trademark of our deals,” says Jones. “From the top on down, this is a good fit culturally that we feel will help us and Community Bankers Merchant Services’ partners grow.”
Celero has been known for its acquisition strategy . In January, for example, it bought Omega Technology, a Kentucky-based payments provider, and in December it acquired Everest Payment Solutions. The deal for Omega was Celero’s eighth since its founding in 2018.
