VeriFone Systems Inc. and Hypercom Corp. say they believe their merger can be completed in the second half of 2011, despite a civil antitrust lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice filed against the companies May 12.
VeriFone and Hypercom announced their merger in November. To resolve potential antitrust issues with the merger, Hypercom in April 4 entered into an agreement to sell its U.S. point-of-sale terminal business to Ingenico S.A. (
According to the DOJ’s press release announcing its lawsuit, “the planned sale of Hypercom’s U.S. POS terminal business to Ingenico does not resolve the antitrust concerns raised by the VeriFone/Hypercom transaction because the assets are to be sold to another significant competitor in the market in a manner that does not create a new, independent, long-term competitor.”
In their own release, VeriFone and Hypercom say they "intend to work with the DOJ to better understand its concerns and assess various options for the planned divestiture of Hypercom’s U.S. business, including the possibility of a divestiture to an alternative buyer. The companies continue to believe in the compelling benefits that the merger will provide to customers, employees and stockholders.
