BluePay Pulls Auction in Favor of Dividend Recap

We finally have some news on the BluePay auction.

Naperville, Ill.-based BluePay is no longer up for sale, three sources say. BluePay, a provider of credit card processing services, is now pursuing a dividend recap, one person says.

BluePay went up for sale last fall and was expected to sell for $200 million, persons say. Raymond James advised on the process. Private equity firms, including GTCR, FTV Capital and Great Hill, were expected to vie for BluePay. The auction did not produce any “real bids” for BluePay, another banker says.

Goldman Sachs invested in BluePay, which offers mobile credit card processing, in 2007. Goldman owns roughly one-quarter of the company, a banking source says. BluePay produces about $20 million EBITDA, sources say.

BluePay isn’t the first to call off its auction plans. TransFirst, the payment processor backed by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, also pulled its sales process late last year in favor of a dividend recap. TransFirst hoped to fetch between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion in a sale. Financial Technology Partners advised on the process.

Officials for BluePay couldn’t be reached for comment.

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