TSYS closes billion-dollar buyout of payment technology firm Cayan

A billion-dollar purchase by credit-card and payment processor TSYS is a done deal.

The Columbus-based company said Thursday it has closed its $1.05 billion acquisition of payment technology firm Cayan in an all-cash transaction. The buyout was announced in mid-December. TSYS said its existing merchant businesses and Cayan will be combined under the TSYS brand.

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Cayan, which was bought from Parthenon Capital Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm, currently serves more than 70,000 merchants and 100-plus integrated payment solution partners in the U.S. It uses a system called “Genius.” Parthenon has owned Cayan for nearly five years and had been seeking a buyer for the company for several months, according to media and trade publications.

“This strategic acquisition builds on our very strong foundation in the acquiring space and will support our goal to become a leading payments solutions provider to small and medium size businesses in the U.S.” TSYS Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Troy Woods said in a statement. “The addition of Cayan creates great synergies to identify best-in-class opportunities that will drive revenue. Together, we will continue focusing on developing products, technologies and services that merchants we serve want and need to continue to grow.”

Henry Helgeson, Cayan’s co-founder and CEO, will serve as president of Cayan, TSYS said. He reports to Philip McHugh, senior executive vice president and president of TSYS’s Merchant Solutions business line.

“TSYS shares our vision for the future and enhances our growth trajectory,” Helgeson said in a statement. “Our business’ foundation is its competitive technology and an unbelievably talented team, and I believe there is still tremendous, untapped market opportunity.”

The Columbus technology firm said it will talk about the acquisition of Cayan further on Jan. 23, the day it releases its fourth-quarter earnings report.

This is the third company TSYS has purchased since 2013 for $1 billion or more. The first was Austin, Texas-based NetSpend, a prepaid marketing and distribution firm that it bought for $1.4 billion in 2013 and is now a TSYS subsidiary. The second and largest at $2.35 billion, and completed in early 2016, was New York-based TransFirst, a merchant specialty firm that has been folded into TSYS’ own merchant operation.

Headquartered in downtown Columbus, TSYS employs about 11,500 people worldwide, with nearly 5,000 of those in Columbus. It racked up revenue of $4.2 billion in 2016 while processing 25.5 billion transactions. It does business in 13 countries.

This story was originally published January 11, 2018 at 4:41 PM with the headline "TSYS closes billion-dollar buyout of payment technology firm Cayan."