First Data jumps the gun on BluePay deal

First Data's not buying BluePay. At least not yet.

Firts Data on Thursday morning briefly posted, then pulled, a draft news release reporting it had agreed by buy BluePay Holdings.

In a later statement, First Data said it's in discussions with BluePay, but there's no deal to announce and it's not certain an acquisition will take place.

"As such, the conference call that was announced in the draft news release will not be held this morning," said the statement.

BluePay processes online and mobile payments for about 53,000 clients, and also sells CRM and ERP software integration. It processes about $16 million in annual payments.

TA Associates bought a majority stake in BluePay from Goldman Sachs in 2013. First Data has made several other recent deals as part of its technology-driven diversification.