Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Wednesday was a busy day for Global Payments Inc.
Seeking to expand its share of business-to-business payments processing, the Atlanta-based processing giant on Wednesday agreed to acquire MineralTree Inc., a provider of accounts-payable automation and B2B payments solutions, for $500 million in cash. Global Payments will finance the deal with its existing credit facility and cash on hand. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory approval.
Global Payments says the addition of MineralTree’s cloud solutions will substantially expand addressable B2B markets and provide incremental avenues for growth.
“B2B reinforces each of the legs of our strategic stool, including software primacy,” Global Payments chief executive Jeff Sloan says in a prepared statement. “The addition of MineralTree’s digitized payables solutions enhances our B2B product suite and expands our opportunity set in one of the largest and most underpenetrated markets in software and payments.”
In related news, Global Payments also struck a deal with Virgin Money, a United Kingdom-based financial-services group, to launch a new product for Virgin Money’s consumers and merchants.
The new payment offering will provide Virgin Money access to lifecycle data across its businesses to gain insights about its customers’ buying patterns. That information can be used to launch new products and services that directly solve customer needs and enhance the customer experience, the parties say.
Global Payments will also serve as the exclusive provider of merchant services to Virgin Money through its TSYS Issuer Solutions unit. The goal is to create a single, unified platform by adding all of Virgin Money’s debit business to its current credit solutions, the companies say.
“This new payment solution will reimagine the entire interaction between merchants and their customers virtually and physically to reduce friction, create value, and drive exceptional experiences,” Sloan says in a statement.
On Wednesday. Global Payments also announced that it has been named payment technology provider to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United.
Global Payments will deploy its point-of-sale technology throughout the stadium including restaurants, food and beverage service management, ticketing, and retail. The technology will enable fans to make purchases and receive orders from anywhere in the stadium and nearby fan zones, Global Payments says.
The deal reflects a growing trend among professional sports venues to add technology to support cashless payments.
Global Payments says it will also automate back-office processes to streamline operations, inventory management, financial accounting, and employee management for the stadium.
