Late Tuesday it was announced that Global Payments Inc., the Atlanta-based financial technology services giant, was making a major transaction.
The company it was purchasing – for a whopping $21.5 billion all-stock deal – is based here in the Peach State as well, an hour and forty five minutes down the road in Columbus. Global Payments has inked a deal to acquire Total System Services (TSYS), the latest in a string of consolidation efforts that have cemented Georgia’s spot at the forefront of the FinTech industry.
Luckily for employees of both companies, not too much should change. The combined organization will maintain dual headquarters in Atlanta and Columbus, and its new 12-member board will include include six members from the TSYS board and six from Global Payments. Global Payments CEO Jeff Sloan will head up the new company, while TSYS CEO Troy Woods will serve as chairman.
In an increasingly cashless society, payment processing – whether online, over the phone, or via an app – has never been more important. Executives from both TSYS and Global Payments think that the consolidation puts the new combined company in a better position on the national and international scene.
On Tuesday Global Payments CFO Cameron Bready told Yahoo Finance’s Yfi AM live show that “We’re in a scale business, and scale is always helpful… what’s nice about bringing our two companies together is it’s the right kind of scale. Unlike other deals that have been done in our space, we are pure-play payments.”
The combined company will have nearly 25,000 employees, some 5,000 of which are based out of Columbus. It is expected to generate $8.6 billion annual adjusted net revenue and process 50 billion transactions annually worldwide, making it one of the largest payment processing companies in the world.
