PLEASANTON, Calif., Jan. 6, 2016 — Blackhawk Network, a leading prepaid and payments network, announced today that it has acquired GiftCards.com, LLC, which sells digital and physical prepaid gift card solutions to consumers through a high-trafficked gift card U.S. website, and OmniCard, LLC, which sells customized prepaid incentive and reward solutions for business clients. The new sites and customers will add toBlackhawk’s rapidly expanding ecommerce businesses.
“We’re excited to add another gift card website to our roster; with GiftCards.com often ranking high in search engine results, this acquisition is expected to enhance Blackhawk’s leadership in the gift card ecommerce market,” said Talbott Roche, Blackhawk Network’s president. “By merging our current ecommerce offerings and the distinctive assets offered by GiftCards.com, we’ll be able to deliver the broadest selection of gift cards to current and future customers, both individual consumers and corporate buyers.”
GiftCards.com offers differentiating features, including its GiftLocal product which uses the open network as a gift card solution for local merchants and a “virtual” Visa gift card delivered by email or in a mobile app.
“This is such an exciting moment for GiftCards.com and I couldn’t imagine a better pairing than with Blackhawk Network,” said Jason Wolfe, CEO of GiftCards.com. “We’re confident that our customers will benefit significantly from the expanded reach, products and services that Blackhawk has to offer.”
“By adding GiftCards.com to Blackhawk’s suite of gift card ecommerce solutions, we expect to broaden our open and closed loop product offerings and provide more ways customers can purchase gift cards through more websites and mobile applications,” said David Jones, general manager of Global Digital and eCommerce at Blackhawk Network. “The GiftCards.com team has built a leading solution for online and the business fits extremely well with our digital solutions direction and vision.”
About the Acquisition
Effective January 5, 2016, Blackhawk purchased the ownership interests of Omni Prepaid, LLC from Wolfe, LLC which in turn resulted in the acquisition of GiftCards.com, LLC and OmniCard, LLC. The purchase price was approximately $120 million and will be funded using a combination of cash on hand and borrowings under an existing credit facility. Blackhawk may realize future cash tax benefits resulting from amortization of a step-up in the tax basis of assets of up to $26 million on a net present value basis. The acquisition is consistent withBlackhawk’s growth strategy around its digital product expansion and is expected to be accretive to Blackhawknet income in fiscal 2016.
Financial Technology Partners LP and FTP Securities LLC (together “FT Partners”) served as exclusive strategic and financial advisors to Omni Prepaid LLC (GiftCards.com) in this transaction.
About Blackhawk Network
Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAWK) is a leading prepaid and payments global company, which supports the program management and distribution of gift cards, prepaid telecom products and financial service products in a number of different retail, digital and incentive channels. Blackhawk’s digital platform supports prepaid across a network of digital distribution partners including retailers, financial service providers, and mobile wallets. For more information, please visit www.blackhawknetwork.com and www.giftcardmall.com.
Favorite