Merchant

VeriFone Systems Inc. says today it has bought a majority stake in All Business Solutions, an Italy-based payment integrator and software developer, from the company’s founders and ACI Informatica, which will keep a minority ownership.

By proposing to combine two of the world's three largest makers of payment terminals, VeriFone Systems Inc.'s hostile bid for Hypercom Inc. appears to raise antitrust issues.

A firm that placed charges on the telephone bills of thousands of small businesses and consumers for Internet-related services they never agreed to buy has been ordered permanently shut down by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Huntsman Gay, a private equity firm, announced today that it has purchased a majority stake in iQor, a New York-based accounts receivable management company. iQor has more than 21 locations worldwide and 11,000 employees. The firm reported more than $345 million in revenues in 2009. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A new payment-authentication company has developed technology that uses any phone to help verify Internet PIN-debit transactions conducted at participating merchant websites.

The PCI Security Standards Council this fall plans to launch a website dedicated to small merchants, which have asked the council for help in understanding how data-security measures affect them.

Online payment gateway GoToBilling Inc. has a new reseller program that it hopes will attract more ISOs and, subsequently, more merchants, the Bozeman, Mont.-based company says.

International CyberTrans wants to add more merchant-services salespeople to its roster.

Hypercom Corp.’s board of directors on Sept. 30 rejected VeriFone Systems Inc.’s unsolicited $284 million bid to buy the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based point-of-sale terminal maker.

VeriFone Systems Inc.’s unsolicited bid to acquire rival Hypercom Corp. for $5.25 in cash for each Hypercom share is too low, and Hypercom should hold out for at least $6 per share if offered in cash, analysts say.