REPAY to Merge with Thunder Bridge Acquisition

Thunder Bridge Acquisition (NASDAQ:TBRG) has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Repay Holdings and its parent, Hawk Parent Holdings, unitedly known as REPAY, it was announced on Tuesday (January 22).

Thunder Bridge, a special purpose acquisition company, will acquire REPAY, a payment solutions company, and will continue as a publicly listed company with an enterprise closing value of approximately US$653 million.

It was said that Thunder Bridge intends to change its name to Repay Holdings Corporation and is expected to continue trading on the NASDAQ under a new ticker symbol once the transaction closes.

REPAY was said to have processed approximately US$7 billion of payments in multiple verticals, including loans and accounts receivable. Thunder Bridge management believes these verticals are underserved and therefore provides ample growth opportunities in the years ahead.

“REPAY has achieved impressive growth while also delivering high levels of profitability in an exciting and underpenetrated area of the payments sector,” Gary Simanson, president and CEO of Thunder Bridge, said in the release.

REPAY’s current management team, including John Morris, co-founder and CEO along with Shaler Alias, co-founder and president, will continue to lead the company. Tim Murphy, CFO of REPAY, is also set to retain his role following the transaction.

Existing majority equity holder of REPAY, Corsair Capital will remain as the company’s largest stockholder.

“We are very excited to continue to execute on REPAY’s growth plan as a public company and greatly appreciate Corsair’s continued involvement and partnership,” John Morris, co-founder and CEO of REPAY, said in the release. “As a publicly-listed company, we will have access to capital to further support our acquisition strategy and invest in technology while continuing to develop software integration partners.”

According to REPAY, it serves more than 3,000 clients through its proprietary payment platform and has a highly recurring revenue. It was said that the company achieved strong adjusted EBITDA growth in the last three years thanks to market expansion, new clients and strategic acquisitions.

“With over $500 billion of total payment volume, including over $200 billion of debit payment volume, projected next year across REPAY’s existing verticals and the ongoing evaluation of a pipeline of potential acquisition targets, we believe there are significant growth opportunities for the business in the future,” James Kirk, MD of Corsair Capital, said in the release.

According to the release,the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019 with the cash component of the purchase price funded through Thunder Bridge’s cash in trust and debt financing.

Following the announcement, shares of Thunder Bridge were up 1.21 percent and closed the trading session on Tuesday at US$10.07. The stock has a “Buy” ranking on TradingView with 15 verticals in favor, six in neutral and three against.

Don’t forget to follow us@INN_Technology for real-time news updates!

Securities Disclosure: I, Bala Yogesh, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.