First-round bids for Corsair-backed Repay due later this month

Private equity has owned Realtime Electronic Payments, or Repay, for much of the past decade, but the Atlanta payments company may find itself sold to a strategic buyer.

After months of rumors, Repay is finally on the block, sources said. Corsair Capital is the seller; Financial Technology Partners is advising on the process, sources said.

First-round bids for Repay are due June 22, one person said. The auction is attracting large payment processors and PE, the source said.

The sector has long been an area of PE interest, with Vista Equity Partners, Welsh Carson, Anderson & Stowe, GTCR, Lindsay Goldberg and Hellman & Friedman all having invested.

Repay generated Ebitda of around $45 million and could sell for $900 million, including debt, Reuters reported.

Corsair, a veteran financial-services investor, has owned Repay for less than two years; Buyouts reported it acquired the company in 2016.

The seller at that time was lower-middle-market firm New Capital Partners, which acquired Repay in 2013. This makes Corsair the second PE owner of Repay.

Strategics have beaten PE in several payments auctions recently. PayPal in May agreed to buy iZettle for $2.2 billion. TSYS closed its $1.05 billion acquisition of Cayan in January. First Data bought BluePay in December for $760 million after buying CardConnect for $750 million in July. An unknown strategic is buying Hyperwallet, Buyouts reported in late May.

Established in 2006, Repay provides electronic-transaction-processing services for more than 10,000 merchants, including credit and debit cards, gift cards, ACH, and bank account verification.

In November, the company completed a $100 million debt refinancing led by SunTrust. It used the funds to buy PaidSuite, PitchBook said. Repay also scooped up PayMaxx Pro and Sigma Payment Solutions in 2017.

The Repay sale comes as Corsair is out fundraising. The firm is seeking $1 billion with its fifth fund, Buyouts reported in November. Corsair raised about $863 million for its 2010-vintage fourth fund, Buyouts said.

Corsair was established in 1992 as JP Morgan’s buyouts arm. The firm is principally owned by Maximillian Management LLC, which is owned by Nicholas Paumgarten and Managing Partner D.T. Ignacio Jayanti, the firm’s Form ADV shows.

E. Mervyn Davies, former U.K. minister for trade, investment and small business, is chairman of Corsair.

The PE firm focuses on companies in wealth and asset management, payments and fintech, banking and specialty finance, insurance and services. It typically invests $50 million to $100 million equity per deal.

Corsair acquired Jackson Hewitt Tax Service late last month.

Executives for Corsair declined comment. Repay could not be reached for comment.

Action Item: Contact Repay CEO John Morris at +1 404-504-7472