TSYS Acquisition of NetSpend Set to Close on July 1

Total System Services expects to complete its $1.4 billion acquisition of NetSpend on July 1, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

NetSpend also says in the filing that TSYS, a Columbus, Ga.-based payments processor, successfully notified state regulators and when necessary, obtained consent, of its plans to acquire the Austin, Texas-based prepaid card marketer. It is required by various state money transmitter licensing laws to provide this notification and obtain consent.

The July 1 closing date is contingent upon "the satisfaction of all other closing conditions," NetSpend says in its filing. The June 20 filing came two days after NetSpend stockholders voted to approve the acquisition, a vote that was rescheduled twice after a pair of shareholder lawsuits challenged the value of the proposed all-cash transaction. Approximately 52.6 million, or 99.47% of the voting shares represented at the meeting, approved the acquisition plan, and nearly 229,000 shares cast votes against the measure.

The acquisition is called a merger in NetSpend's regulatory filings because TSYS created a wholly-owned merger vehicle subsidiary called "General Merger Sub." When the deal is complete, NetSpend will merge with the TSYS subsidiary and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of TSYS.

Once complete, the acquisition will provide issuer clients of TSYS with an option to offer general purpose reloadable cards. The deal should also let merchant clients of TSYS offer reloadable payroll cards to their employees.