Contact: Scott Denne
Monitise expands its M&A profile with the pickup of Markco Media, a company that owns and operates two deals and discounts websites. Though this is the mobile banking vendor’s first move into retail, Monitise has been an active acquirer of payment providers as it has sought to expand the geographic reach and technological capabilities of its mobile payments service.
With the deal, Monitise aims to capitalize on Markco’s relationships with both retailers and consumers by getting more of both groups signed up on its mobile payments platform. The target also brings a team that will strengthen Monitise’s own deals service, where it enables banks to send targeted coupons to customers based on purchase activity.
While this is Monitise’s first M&A foray outside of finance, it’s bringing its old negotiating habits along with it. The $46m acquisition of Markco comes with a potential $47m more in performance-based incentives. Three of Monitise’s five acquisitions have come with earnouts that could double the deal value and a fourth purchase had an earnout that could reach two-thirds of the upfront price.
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