PE firms expected to bid for Comdata’s SVS unit

Comdata has put its Stored Value Solutions (SVS) unit up for sale, three sources told peHUB.

Barclays is advising on the process, the people said. The auction is in the second round and SVS is expected to fetch more than $600 million, the sources said. Private equity firms are expected to dominate the SVS auction, two bankers said.

Louisville, Ky.-based SVS is a provider of gift cards. The company also manages gift card programs for retailers globally.

In November, FleetCor Technologies closed its $3.45 billion buy of payment processor Comdata. Ceridian, a portfolio company of Fidelity National Financial and Thomas H. Lee Partners, was the seller. Ceridian acquired Comdata in 1995 for $900 million, the New York Times reported.

Ron Clark, FleetCor’s president, chairman and CEO, said in August when the deal was announced that SVS might not be part of the acquisition. FleetCor would evaluate SVS as it moved to close the deal, he said.

In April 2014, Comdata filed confidentially with the SEC to go public. The Brentwood, Tenn.-based company provides fleet and corporate payment services to more than 20,000 customers. Comdata was founded in 1969 and employed about 1,300 people globally as of August. Comdata enables more than $54 billion in payment volume annually, a statement said.

Comdata and FleetCor did not return calls for comment. SVS and Barclays couldn’t immediately be reached.

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