Dive Brief:
- Global Payments has agreed to sell its gaming solutions business to private equity firm Parthenon Capital Partners for $415 million, the payments company said Friday.
- Like the company’s $1 billion sale of its Netspend consumer unit, the divestiture reflects the Atlanta-based firm’s efforts “to refine our portfolio toward our core, corporate customers and away from consumer-centric businesses,” Global Payments CEO Jeff Sloan said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
- The company expects those two sales and its $4 billion acquisition of Evo Payments to streamline operations and “provide us with enhanced confidence in our growth and margin targets,” Sloan said. All three are expected to close by the end of March.
Dive Insight:
The company’s gaming business contributes “about $100 million a year or so,” Global Payments Chief Operating Officer Cameron Bready said during the call.
The sale to the private equity firm occurs as the gaming market soars. JPMorgan Chase has invested in Sightline, which provides digital payments for the gaming industry. Sightline projects the market to become a $150 billion industry within years.
Global Payments’ revenue rose 2.7% in the fourth quarter, to $2.25 billion, according to a Friday news release. Net income climbed 19.1%, to $258.6 million. The company’s full-year net income plummeted, however, falling from $987.9 million in 2021 to $143.3 million in 2022.
Global Payments projects macroeconomic consistency this year, and expects Evo Payments to contribute $475 million in adjusted net revenue this year, once the acquisition closes, according to the earnings presentation. Much of Evo’s appeal lies in its exposure to high-growth markets around the globe, said Bready, also the company’s president.
Chief Financial Officer Josh Whipple said the company is forecasting profit margin expansion in the first quarter, contraction in the middle of the year as Evo is absorbed, and margin expansion in the fourth quarter, “as synergies ramp for our merchant business.”
Amid purchase and sale activity, Wolfe Research analyst Darrin Peller commented on the many “moving parts” at the company.
After all three closings expected this quarter occur, about 75% of the company’s revenue will come from its merchant business and 25% from issuer and B2B segments, Sloan said. “Three-quarters of calendar 2023 will reflect results of the businesses that we intend to manage well into the future,” Sloan said.
Private equity firm Searchlight Capital and Austin, Texas-based payments company Rev Worldwide agreed in August 2022 to buy the Netspend consumer portfolio for $1 billion.
