First American Payment Auction Busted Due To Unrealistic Sale Expectations
Despite the bubbling M&A market, unrealistic expectations can still destroy an auction. Consider First American Payment Systems. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company, which is owned by Lindsay Goldberg, provides credit, debit and other electronic payment processing services to more than 120,000 merchants. First American had about $211 million of revenue in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, according to Moody's Investors Service. Earlier this year, First American hired Citadel to advise on its auction. The company has about $50 million EBITDA and was seeking bids of 12x, five banking and PE sources say. Several buyout shops—believed to include General Atlantic, TA Associates, Bain Capital, TPG, KKR and Warburg—put in proposals, sources say.
8 October 2010•3 mins read
