News

Canadian IAD DirectCash buys Threshold

October 29, 2013

DirectCash has entered an agreement with Brink's Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of The Brink's Co., to acquire its subsidiary, Threshold Financial Services. Threshold provides transaction processing and ATM outsourcing services to FIs in addition to operating its own network of ATMs across Canada.

The agreed purchase price is $50 million; the DirectCash board of directors has unanimously approved the acquisition and the parties are working toward closing the transaction on Nov.1.

Threshold consists of two primary business segments: One segment caters to credit unions and other financial institutions; the other segment operates the company's non-bank ATM business.

The CUFI business is broadly comprised of transaction switching services, card provisioning, payments processing, reporting and settlement, fraud management, ATM cash management and fleet management, and project-based consulting services.

The non-bank ATM business consists of approximately 1,475 retail ATMs under the "LaserCash" brand, as well as ATMs managed on behalf of gaming and retail clients in Canada.

Threshold also operates The Exchange network in Canada, a shared surcharge-free ATM network that includes more than 200 financial institutions.

In an announcement of the deal, DirectCash said it believes the integration of the core FI business will strengthen its position in the payments business and establish DirectCash as a leading independent provider of end-to-end transaction processing and payment solutions in Canada.

"Threshold is a very high-quality operator with attractive contracts in place, a top-tier customer base and good management," said DirectCash president and CEO Jeff Smith. "We believe that the credit union and financial institution business will strategically position the corporation within the Canadian payments space as a leading end-to-end transaction processing provider."

DirectCash has operations in Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and Mexico, with a total count of more than 20,000 ATMs worldwide. The company also operates a full-service transaction processing switch serving Interac and other payment card network transactions in Canada.

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