Ezidebit acquired for $305 million

Australian payments startup Ezidebit has been acquired by US-based Global Payments for $305 million.

Atlanta-based Global Payments acquired the company to expand its presence in Australia and to gain a larger slice of growth in the Asia Pacific.

Ezidebit helps small and medium businesses in Australian and New Zealand improve their cashflow by efficiently processing payments through a variety of direct debit, BPAY and eCommerce payment solutions.

The company provides a toolkit of APIs to ease integration with financial software solutions. Ezidebit software is embedded in many popular packages, including Xero and MYOB.

The Brisbane-based company processes over $3.3 billion in recurring payments annually in markets such as health and fitness clubs, childcare centres.

The company derives revenues from these transactions via both percentage-based and flat transaction fees charged to customers in addition to merchant fees.

Ezidebit has long planned to expand its operations, but has been unable to raise the necessary capital. The company pursued a two-pronged approach, including a float managed by Deutsche Bank and Macquarie Capital, while simultaneously courting entities who would consider making an offer to acquire.

“We saw some synergies with Global - they can augment our expertise and we their’s,” Chairman and CEO of the board, Michael Dempsey told iTnews. “We recently opened an office in Hong Kong, Global are already in 26 countries, so they are in a position to grow our overseas footprint and also offer employees a career path.”

Dempsey said that existing Ezidebit customers should expect no changes in the short term with an improved product portfolio and product enhancements provided down the road. “Global have multi currency capabilities that may be an advantage to some of our Australian customers.”

Ezidebit's CEO Michael Dempsey will be retained in an advisory role until the sale closes in November.