Pipeline Data 'Defers' One Merger Deal, Solidifies Another

Payments processor Pipeline Data Inc. this week announced it signed a merger agreement May 16 to acquire CoCard Marketing Group LLC for approximately $79.5 million plus future considerations based on performance.
The acquisition of CoCard adds a strong retail presence to Pipeline Data's e-commerce focus, according to Phil Chait, a spokesperson for Quincy, Mass.-based Pipeline Data.
"This [acquisition] really gives us a strong marketing organization that we can use to board retail-merchant accounts in a more aggressive way than we have in the past," Chait tells ISO&Agent Weekly.
The two companies expect to complete the deal by June 30.
"We look at this as the defining transaction for the company to date because it is really going to give us the presence we are looking for on the retail side and gives us the financial wherewithal to aggressively pursue additional portfolios as they become available," Chait says.
Pipeline Data also said this week it will "defer" a merger with Innovative Resource Alliance, the parent of Falmouth, Mass.-based prepaid card company TenderCard and Merchant Services Network, a West Palm Beach, Fla.-based merchant-services provider. Pipeline Data had announced it was acquiring both companies in November, along with CoCard.
At the time, Pipeline Data said shareholders of Innovative Resource Alliance and CoCard already had approved the mergers. The acquisition of Innovative Resource Alliance is "still in play," says Chait.
"IRA has contracts to acquire additional merchant portfolios, and they really need to execute on those transactions before it becomes very attractive for us to move forward," Chait says.
Innovative Resource Alliance could not be reached for comment.
CoCard is a Nashville Tenn.-based network of 73 independent sales organizations that processes more than $3 billion in credit card transactions annually from more than 26,000 merchants. Pipeline Data has received a secured-debt proposal of $90 million to fund the CoCard transaction, the company says in a news release.