Payments Exec Tom Wimsett in Gateway Deal With Private-Equity Firm

Former National Processing Co. chief executive Tom Wimsett, now head of consulting firm Wimsett & Co. LLC, has teamed up with private-equity firm Thompson Street Capital Partners to buy EchoSat Communication, a payment-gateway company.

EchoSat, based in Lexington, Ky., targets petroleum marketers and convenience stores. According to EchoSat’s Web site, the gateway supports ATM and prepaid transactions in addition to point-of-sale and fueling services. EchoSat’s gateway works with processors such as Chase Paymentech, Blackhawk Networks Holdings Inc., and First Data Corp.

“We believe there is a compelling opportunity to build upon EchoSat’s leading position in the petro and convenience-store markets and to expand into other end markets,” Wimsett said in a press release. He will join the company’s board of directors as executive chairman. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Wimsett left NPC in 2002 to found Iron Triangle Payment Systems LLC, which was renamed National Processing Co. in 2006 and in 2010 was sold to Fifth Third Processing Solutions, now Vantiv Corp., for more than $600 million, according to the Wimsett & Co. Web site.