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Francisco Partners has agreed to acquire Toronto-based Moneris Solutions Corp., a payments-technology developer, from Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada for $2 billion Canadian, or $1.43 billion U.S. The banks will each take half of the sale price. The two institutions have owned the Ontario-based processor as a joint venture since its inception in December 2000.
Jeff Sloan, former president and chief executive of Global Payments Inc., will join Moneris as its chairman. The deal is expected to close by the end of January, according to the announcement from Moneris and Francisco Partners.
Sloan, who left Global Payments and the company’s board in June 2023 after nearly a decade as CEO, in a statement credited CEO James Hicks with having “built significant momentum” at Moneris, and added he has worked with Hicks “in the past.” The company under Hicks has “established itself as a leader, with a strong market position, a clear strategic vision and a talented team,” Sloan added.
Moneris reports it processes payments for 325,000 “points of commerce,” accounting for one-third of commerce transactions in Canada online, mobile, and at the counter. The company says it is the only “major [payments] provider” in Canada operating with an in-house field-services unit.
Observers are cautiously optimistic about the deal for Moneris. “It’s hard to say if this purchase will make Moneris more competitive, that will play out as [Francisco Partners] takes on governance,” notes Cliff Gray, principal at Gray Consulting, in an email message. “If anything, I believe the purchase cements the ongoing value of Moneris, given [Francisco Partners] is willing to make a multi-billion dollar bet on them. Economic climates aside, people always have to buy stuff. That fact alone makes Moneris a valuable asset, and further exhibits the importance of how well a payments giant like Moneris should be governed.”
The deal for Moneris adds to Francisco Partners’ portfolio of payments operators. The investment firm holds large stakes in the point-of-sale terminal business Verifone and in NMI, or Network Merchants, a payment gateway and embedded-payments provider. Formerly, the firm was invested in Paymetric, PayLease, and Hypercom, a point-of-sale terminal provider.
The investment firm says the deal includes long-term referral agreements with BMO and RBC that will involve funneling potential clients to Moneris.
