Vantiv Acquires Mercury Payment Systems For $1.65 Billion

Vantiv VNTV announced that it is acquiring Mercury Payment Systems from private equity company, Silver Lake, for $1.65 billion.

Mercury interacts at the point of sale to process payments. Vantiv says the acquisition will help the company to grow in the integrated payment space to accelerate its presence in a high-growth channel.

Vantiv CEO Charles Drucker commented, “By combining Mercury's distribution network and innovative solutions with Vantiv's technology platform and products, we are developing a payments eco-system that allows us to serve these clients in new and exciting ways.

Bringing the companies together will dramatically enhance our distribution and technology capabilities to serve a number of large and growing industry verticals.”

In 2013, Mercury Payment Systems recorded sales of $237 million and EBITDA of $93 million. These figures are 17 percent and 23 percent higher than the previous year. Vantiv's revenue should increase by one or two percent per year from the acquisition.

Shares of Vantiv are moving higher on the announcement; at last check shares were up 4.46 percent to $31.15.