First Data, AIB Acquire Stake In Payzone

Allied Irish Banks (AIB) and First Data have teamed up to buy a majority stake in card payment company Payzone for an enterprise value of up to 100 million euros ($113 million), according to a news release.

Carlyle Cardinal Ireland sold the stake and Arma Partners served as an adviser.

“Payzone is one of Ireland’s largest providers of payment solutions, with its technology allowing both large and small Irish businesses to accept payments online, in store, on the road and over the phone,” Arma said in the release. “The company processes 125 million transactions annually for 100 plus client companies and operates Ireland’s largest retail payments network, with 11,500 plus points of sale throughout the country.”

In other First Data news, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has requested more information from First Data as well as Fiserv ahead of a proposed merger.

Filings by Fiserv with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that on April 4, the two firms each received a request for “additional information and documentary materials” in what is known as a second request from the DOJ.

The request for the unspecified information was part of the ongoing review of the merger between the two companies, which was announced in January.

The effect of the second request, said the SEC filing, is to extend the waiting period that exists under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.

The companies said they still expect to complete the merger in the second half of 2019. That timeframe had been disclosed upon the announcement of the merger.

As disclosed by materials provided by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the “Model Request for Additional Information and Documentary Material (Second Request),” the second request extends the waiting period for “a specified period, usually 30 days (10 days in the case of a cash tender offer or a bankruptcy sale), after all parties have complied with the request.”