Link2Gov parent buys Franklin company

Milwaukee-based Metavante again sets sights on a local specialty payment processor

Email | Print By E. Thomas Wood

Milwaukee-based Metavante Corp., which bought Nashville payment processor Link2Gov Corp. in 2005, has snapped up another local financial services company. Its purchase of Valutec Card Solutions Inc., based in Franklin, was announced this morning.

The acquired company will continue to operate under the Valutec name, according to the press release. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Valutec provides prepaid gift cards and similar programs for small and medium-sized businesses. The company currently has more than 13,000 merchant relationships in over 30,000 locations.

Chartered in 2001, Valutec was sold to a group of former Comdata executives in 2002. Tony Holcombe, the former Comdata CEO who took the helm at the time of that buyout, remains a director of Valutec although he left the company in 2003, according to a regulatory filing by another company of which he is a board member. Bill Horne, who has held executive positions at several payment-processing companies, is the current CEO.

Metavante, a unit of regional bank holding company Marshall & Ilsley Corp., paid $63.5 million in cash for Link2Gov in November 2005. Link2Gov processes electronic payment services for governmental agencies.