Fort Worth payment processor acquired by pension plan group

Fort Worth-based First American Payment Systems has been acquired by an investor group led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’), with participation of members of the First American management team.

First American is a payment processor that provides electronic transaction processing services for more than 140,000 merchants in the United States, and in Canada through its Canadian subsidiary, iATS Payments. Private investment firm Lindsay Goldberg held the majority ownership position in First American. “First American is at an exciting point in the company’s evolution, and we look forward to collaborating with our new financial partners to identify and pursue attractive opportunities to drive our next phase of growth – both through organic expansion and strategic acquisitions,” said Neil Randel, chairman of the board and CEO of First American.

Closing is expected in August and terms of the transaction are not being disclosed. In the Fort Worth Business Press Top 100 listing, First American said it had revenues of $431.2 million in 2012. With $140.8 billion (Canadian) in net assets as of Dec. 31, 2013, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is the largest single-profession plan in Canada. – Robert Francis