5 FinTech acquisitions announced in the Americas in the beginning of 2023

By Edlyn Cardoza

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) is a sector that is highly elastic in its behaviour. Successfully acquiring and integrating FinTech companies poses a significant challenge. According to FT Partners, as many as 1,485 M&A deals occurred in the FinTech space in 2021, totaling $348.5 billion. Moreover, in the first half of 2022, $76.8 billion was invested across 3,447 deals, according to data from FinTech Global.

The beginning of the new year 2023 has started with a bang for FinTechs in the Americas. Prominent FinTech acquisitions have occurred just within the first two weeks of January.

Here are 5 FinTech acquisitions announced in the Americas in the beginning of 2023:

• CardWorks Servicing and Dataline Systems

CardWorks Servicing, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of CardWorks, Inc., and one of the largest privately-held providers of end-to-end outsourcing support services for credit card and installment loan products in North America announced it has successfully completed the acquisition of Dataline Systems, LLC. Founded in 1986, Dataline is an Apopka, Florida-based privately-held provider of business process outsourcing and financial services operations support.

• Duck Creek Technologies and Imburse Payments

Duck Creek Technologies, the intelligent solutions provider defining the future of property and casualty (P&C) insurance, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Imburse Payments, a Swiss-based modern payments platform. As part of Duck Creek, Imburse will continue to serve its existing client base and markets while accelerating expansion plans for new clients across Europe and into North America and Asia-Pacific. The Imburse platform will continue to be available on a stand-alone basis and will also be fully integrated with Duck Creek’s suite of technology solutions, further enabling carriers’ digital transformation goals with modern tools.

• First Bancorp and GrandSouth Bancorporation

First Bancorp announced the completion of its acquisition of GrandSouth Bancorporation, the parent company of GrandSouth Bank, on January 1, 2023. The merger solidifies First Bank’s position as one of the leading banks headquartered in the Carolinas, with total assets of approximately $12 billion and 118 branches. Under the merger agreement, GrandSouth’s subsidiary bank, GrandSouth Bank, has merged with and into First Bancorp’s subsidiary bank, First Bank. First Bank will continue to operate the eight branches of GrandSouth Bank under the GrandSouth Bank name until a systems conversion is planned for mid-March 2023.

• FLEETCOR and Global Reach Group

FLEETCOR Technologies, Inc., one of the leading global business payments companies, completed the acquisition of Global Reach Group, a UK-based cross border payments provider. With the acquisition, FLEETCOR increases its cross-border payments scale and strengthens its position as a leading non-bank B2B global cross-border payments provider. Global Reach Group facilitates international payments for customers of all sizes across various industries. This acquisition bolsters FLEETCOR’s cross border payments footprint in the UK, EU, and Canada. Today, FLEETCOR processes cross border payments in more than 145 currencies for approximately 27,000 customers worldwide.

• Nuvei and Paya

Nuvei Corporation, the Canadian FinTech company, and Paya Holdings Inc., one of the leading providers of integrated payment and commerce solutions in the U.S., announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby Nuvei will acquire Paya in an all-cash transaction at $9.75 per share for total consideration of approximately $1.3 billion. Paya processes over $40 billion of annual payment volume across credit/debit card, ACH, and check, making it a top payment processing provider in the US.

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