Shift4 Payments is set to acquire the Canadian gift card company Givex for C$200 million in an all-cash deal.
Givex offers cloud-based software services for merchants, including payments, loyalty programs, and point-of-sale systems. The company operates in ten countries with 130,000 active locations and reported annual revenue of C$80.8 million for the last fiscal year, an increase from C$49.3 million in 2019.
Taylor Lauber, president of Shift4, remarked, “Givex has a considerable footprint around the world, which will dramatically increase Shift4’s overall customer base. Their gift card and loyalty solutions are second to none and will add significant value for our customers, creating stronger relationships and enhancing our overall value proposition.”
Shift4, which is publicly traded with a market valuation of around $7 billion, has been the subject of acquisition rumors itself. The company received multiple offers from prospective buyers after announcing it was open to offers in December, but all proposals were declined due to valuation disagreements.
Recently, Shift4 has been actively pursuing acquisitions, including a majority stake in the European hospitality POS business Vectron and completing its acquisition of US-based Revel Systems in June. Regarding the Givex deal, Lauber stated, “Similar to other deals we have recently completed, this acquisition aligns perfectly with how we like to deploy capital—adding blue-chip merchants at a low customer acquisition cost while delivering additional benefits to our customer base.”