NCR buying JetPay to counter fintech encroachment

With VC favorites such as Square and Stripe nipping at its heels, ATM and terminal manufacturer NCR plans to shell out $184 million for JetPay to add remote software to its acquiring menu.

NCR has agreed to a price of $5.05 per JetPay share, which is a multiple of 2.9 times the 2018 consensus revenue forecast of $63.4 million. The deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, will be financed by cash on hand and existing capacity under NCR’s revolving credit facility.

NCR will add a cloud-based payment platform to its existing point of sale products for retail and hospitality sectors, adding processing to payment acceptance to compete in an environment in which merchants want fewer vendor relationships.

NCR and its rival Diebold Nixdorf are also under pressure to make their traditional point of sale hardware businesses more feature-rich to battle more nimble acquirers with heavy VC backing and a diverse product range, such as Stripe and Square.

NCR has already undergone a major executive shakeup and is selling a $1,499 dual screen payment system through a partnership with Samsung.