Blackstone, the venture capital investor that last month bought up Clarion Events, has joined forces with another investor company, CVC, to buy Paysafe in a US$2.96bn takeover.
Paysafe is a major payments systems provider and the deal is seen as a reflection of the growing strength of the payments sector as cash is replaced by digital.
Peter Fray, partner and joint head of financial services at Cavendish Corporate Finance, commented: “The agreed acquisition of Paysafe will see Blackstone and CVC taking a significant step into the online payments sector and comes just weeks after Paysafe diversified its services and strengthened its US presence with its high profile acquisition of Merchant’s Choice Payment solutions.
"M&A activity in this sector is ramping up with payments firms becoming hot property as cash is progressively replaced by digital payment methodologies and firms come under increasing pressure to consolidate, seeking cost efficiencies to mitigate the pressures of increasing regulatory scrutiny and growing competition.”
