Global Payments Buys Remainder of HSBC Merchant Services

June 12  - HomeATM PIN Payments Blog:  According to reports trickling from the news wires, Global Payments Inc has agreed to buy the remaining (49%) stake in its British joint venture with HSBC Bank Plc for $307.7 million in cash..

Global Payments, which processes online credit card transactions, said it expects the deal to add to its fiscal 2010 results.

It was just a year ago, (June last year) that Global Payments bought a 51 percent stake of HSBC's merchant services division.  They paid $439 million for the majority stake in the joint venture to expand and provide payment processing services to merchants in Britain.  So either they paid too much for 51%, ($8.6 million per percentage point) or got a helluva deal on the 49% ($6.3 million per percentage point)  (or 2% of the HSBS Merchant Services was worth $131.3 million by itself)

Atlanta-based Global Payments said it used existing cash and lines of credit to complete the deal. Shares of Global Payments closed at $37.45 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Here are some additional facts according to the London Bureau of the Wall Street Journal:

• The HMS joint venture was created in June 2008 when HSBC sold a 51% stake to Global Payments Inc., a processor of electronic  transactions.
• HSBC and Global Payments also have sale-and-referral agreements in the U.S. and Canada along with a joint venture in Asia covering 11 countries and territories.
• A new 10 year marketing alliance agreement has also been signed, under which HSBC will continue to refer its U.K. customers to HMS.
• No staff will be affected by the change of ownership and HMS will continue to be based in Leicester.

Global Payments, HSBC, HMS Joint Venture,