Payments Industry M&A Report: Q1 & Q2 2008

Payments Industry M&A Report - Q1 & Q2 2008

NEW RESEARCH REPORT BY MERCATOR ADVISORY GROUP

During the first half of 2008, the number of announced mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals in the payments industry slightly outpaced the M&A activity during the second half of 2007. There were 33 M&A transactions and 1 venture capital (VC) financing deal in the payments sector during the first quarter of 2008. In Q1, the total M&A activity decreased slightly by 8% from a year earlier, but increased by nearly 90% compared to Q4 2007. Vendor M&A activity increased from the prior quarter by 55% and processors and acquirers activity increased by 150%. VC activity on the other hand remained relatively quiet. The breakdown of the 34 deals announced in the first quarter is as follows:

• Issuer 6
• Processors & Acquirers 10
• Remittance 1
• VC 1
• Vendor 14
• Private Equity 1
• Total Deals 34

Given growing concerns over a looming economic recession, there was evidence of a considerably lower volume of payments M&A activity during the second quarter of 2008. There were 19 M&A transactions and 1 venture capital financing deal in the payments industry in Q2. Although Issuer M&A activity increased from the prior quarter by 33%, vendor activity declined by 71% and processors and acquirers activity decreased by 40%. The breakdown of the 20 deals announced in the second quarter are as follows:

• Issuer 8
  
• Processors and Acquirers 10
  
• Remittance 0
  
• VC 1
  
• Vendor 4
  
• Private Equity 1
  
• Total Deals 20

The Mercator Advisory Group's Payment Industry M&A Report - Q1 & Q2 2008 assembles into a single resource a summary of M&A and VC activity along with information on each of the payments industry related M&A deals, contact person(s) related to each deal (when available) and an M&A activity table that summarizes the highlights of both quarters. All activities are accessible via easy to scan tables listing and summarizing M&A activity. Each press release announcing the activity is included in its entirety.

Sample Exhibit 1: M&A Deals, Year to Date

This report contains 131 pages, 4 exhibits and 13 tables.

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