According to an 8-K filing, SunTrust Bank acted as both administrative and collateral agent on a $130 million increase to Priority Tehcnology’s senior secured credit facility.
The upsized facility will be used to finance the company’s acquisition of certain merchant portfolio assets from Direct Connect Merchant Services and Blue Parasol Group and to complete certain other proposed transactions for additional merchant acquiring assets.
As part of the transaction, Priority will add a diverse and low-risk merchant portfolio processing $1.7 billion in annual volume, as well as a productive sales engine contributing to enterprise growth.
Founded in 1994 and based in the Dulles Corridor of Northern Virginia, Direct Connect provides customized e-commerce and electronic payment processing services to businesses across the United States and Canada.
Blue Parasol Group is a portfolio company of The Beekman Group.
Thomas C. Priore, Priority executive chairman and CEO, said, “We are extremely excited to have added Direct Connect’s merchant portfolio assets and productive sales relationships to Priority. Along with the increased diversification across industries, geographies and merchant sizes, we expect to capture operational expense synergies as part of the acquisition, as well as the opportunity to enhance effectiveness and productivity via access to Priority’s purpose-built reseller tools and merchant products.”
Andrew Brown, managing director of The Beekman Group, noted, “The sale of Direct Connect’s Independent Sales Agents (ISAs) portfolio to Priority will be a tremendous benefit to our ISAs and their merchants. The transaction and our developing partnership with Priority will also enable our retained payments business to continue to refine its focus on Integrated Payments.”
Priority provides merchant acquiring and commercial payment solutions, offering unique product and service capabilities to its merchant network and distribution partners.
