Global Payments to buy EVO Payments for $4 billion

Global Payments Inc. announced Monday that its plans to acquire EVO Payments Inc. for $34 a share in an all-cash deal that values EVO at $4.0 billion. Global Payments expects that the merger with EVO, which offers payment-technology and acquiring services, will expand its international footprint into new markets while giving it additional scale in existing markets. "The acquisition of EVO is highly complementary to our technology-enabled strategy and provides meaningful opportunities to increase scale in our business globally," Global Payments Chief Operating Officer Cameron Bready said in a release. Additionally, Global Payments reported second-quarter results while beating profit expectations. The company notched a net loss of $673.0 million, or $2.42 a share, whereas it earned $263.6 million, or 89 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. On an adjusted basis, Global Payments earned $2.36 a share, up from $2.04 a share a year before and ahead of the FactSet consensus, which was for $2.34 a share. The company posted $2.28 billion in GAAP revenue, up from $2.14 billion a year before, whereas analysts were predicting $2.30 billion. Global Payments further announced that Silver Lake has committed to make a $1.5 billion long-term strategic investment in the company through convertible senior notes. The company also said that it had reached a deal to sell Netspend's consumer assets to Searchlight Capital and Rev Worldwide for $1 billion, while Global Payments will retain the Netspend business-to-business assets. Shares of Global Payments have lost 9.5% so far this year as the S&P 500 has fallen 13.3%.

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