Angling for a piece of the growing card-payment industry, buyout firm
Silver Lake announced April 14 that it has agreed to make a “strategic growth investment” in
The transaction is the latest in a card-processing market that is undergoing rapid consolidation.
Visa Inc., the largest card network nationwide, announced a strategic agreement April 21 to buy Mountain View, Calif.-based CyberSource Inc. for $2 billion, as a way to expand its e-commerce offerings.
And First Data Corp., the world’s largest card processor, has been a portfolio company of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. since September 2007.
“Other major merchant acquirers are for sale. I think activity is only going to increase,” says David Fish, a senior analyst at research firm Mercator Advisory Group Inc. He notes that Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC is shopping its RBS WorldPay card-processing unit. Five bidders, including four buyout firms, are said to be finalists for the business. —Steve Bills