Vantiv Said Near $1.65 Billion Purchase of Mercury Payment

Vantiv Inc., a provider of payment-processing services to retailers and financial institutions, is near a deal to acquire Mercury Payment Systems Inc. for about $1.65 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

An agreement may be reached as soon as today, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is not public. Durango, Colorado-based Mercury, which is backed by Silver Lake Management LLC, filed for an initial public offering in March.

Silver Lake, which owns about 62 percent of Mercury, acquired the stake in 2010, according to a press release from Financial Technology Partners LP, Mercury's adviser in that transaction. Mercury's technology is used by restaurants and small and and medium-sized businesses to process payments and create pre-paid gift cards.

Vantiv, formerly a unit of Fifth Third Bancorp, rose 3.2 percent to $29.84 as of 2:24 p.m. in New York today, giving the company a market value of about $5.6 billion. Vantiv's shares are up more than 70 percent since its March 2012 IPO.

Founded in 2001, Mercury had $237 million in revenue in 2013, the IPO filing shows. Vantiv, based in Symmes Township, Ohio, reported revenue of over $2.1 billion last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Gemma Hart, a spokeswoman for Silver Lake, declined to comment on the deal as did Mark Polzin for Vantiv.

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