HOUSTON – Cardtronics said this week TA Associates, the venture fund that financed the creation of the nation’s largest ATM operator, severed its ties with the company after it sold most of its shares, with Michael Wilson, managing director of the Boston investment firm, resigning from the Cardtronics board.
TA Associates sold most of the remainder of its 12.3 million Cardtronics shares over the winter, helping the venture firm to an estimated profit of $75 million in its 10-year-old investment in the ATM operator, or a doubling of its investment.
The Boston firm helped fund the creation of Cardtronics in 2001, when the fledgling ATM operator bought several independent ATM companies. In 2005, TA made an additional $75 million investment to finance Cardtronics’ acquisition of 7-Eleven convenience stores’ 5,500 ATMs. When Cardtronics went public in December 2007, TA held a 30% stake in the company.
Wilson had served on the Cardtronics board since 2005.
Cardtronics is a key electronic funds transfer switch for credit unions, with connections to the credit union-owned CO-OP Financial Services and Credit Union 24 ATM networks, and Financial Service Centers Cooperative’s shared branching network.
