Verifone Owner in Talks to Buy Payments Firm Moneris

The deal between Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal and the private equity firm Francisco Partners could value Moneris at more than $2 billion, the Financial Times (FT) reported Sunday (May 3), citing sources familiar with the matter.

Despite protracted negotiations, a deal could come together by the summer, those sources said, while warning the acquisition could fall apart or other suitors could emerge.

The news follows reports from last year that Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal were exploring a possible sale of Moneris.

According to this latest report, Moneris is one of Canada’s largest merchant payment processors, handling 5-plus billion transactions yearly. FT characterizes the company as a good fit for Francisco, which owns payments company Verifone and a stake in Paysafe.

FT also noted that many banks in North America have moved away from payment processing as companies like Adyen and Stripe have pushed into the sector. 

For example, TD Bank sold its Canadian merchant processing business to payments company Fiserv, while Bank of America, Fifth Third Bank and PNC Financial Services have all unloaded parts of their payments units in the past few years, the report added.

In related news, PYMNTS wrote last week about a trend in recent FinTech dealmaking, where companies are targeting “acquisitions that extend control across payments, data, incentives and settlement,” with strategies which are “arcing toward determining how transactions are created and how they are completed.”

One recent example, as reported here, is Adyen’s planned acquisition of Talon.One, which brings a loyalty and promotions engine into its payments infrastructure. 

The deal lets merchants apply incentives at the point of checkout, connecting pricing and offers directly to the transaction. The companies have said that this lets merchants recognize shoppers and instantly apply a relevant offer, before the payment is completed.

“The integration reflects a broader structural change,” the report added. “Loyalty is no longer a separate marketing layer but now is part of the transaction itself, where conversion is determined.”

The report also highlights several other recent transactions, from the likes of Stripe, American Express, Mastercard, Airwallex and Flutterwave.

“Each category represents a control point within the transaction life cycle. The repetition across deals shows that firms are not experimenting,” PYMNTS wrote. “They are assembling the same set of capabilities in order to control how transactions are constructed from start to finish. Payments remain central, but they are no longer sufficient on their own.”