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Private equity firm Francisco Partners is reportedly in discussions to acquire Moneris, a financial technology joint venture co-owned by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Bank of Montreal (BMO).
The potential transaction could value Moneris at up to $2bn, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The report said negotiations have taken longer than expected, but an agreement could be reached by summer. The sources told FT that other bidders could still emerge, or talks could end without a deal.
The reported talks follow earlier coverage from nearly a year ago that RBC and BMO were exploring sale of Moneris.
Moneris is one of Canada’s largest merchant payment processors and handles more than five billion transactions each year.
The company offers end-to-end payment products, including in-store terminals, self-serve kiosks, mobile point-of-sale tools, online checkout integrations and an all-in-one ecommerce platform. According to its website, it supports more than 325,000 points of commerce across Canada.
FT added that Moneris could fit with Francisco Partners’ technology investment strategy. Francisco Partners already owns payments company Verifone and holds a stake in Paysafe.
The reported discussions come as several North American banks have reduced their presence in merchant acquiring and payment processing.
TD Bank has previously transferred control of its Canadian merchant processing business to Fiserv. Bank of America, Fifth Third Bank and PNC Financial Services have also sold or divested parts of their payments operations in recent years.
Francisco Partners has about $45bn in assets under management.
"Francisco Partners in discussions to buy payments processor Moneris – report" was originally created and published by Electronic Payments International, a GlobalData owned brand.
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