Orbiscom Sale A Rare Private Equity Success

On January 5 MasterCard announced that it had acquired Irish payments solutions software provider Orbiscom from European mid-market private equity firm HG Capital for around US$100mn, in a move designed to further the development of its global advanced payments services. The acquisition builds on an existing relationship between the two firms that has resulted in the MasterCard inControl service, an innovative payment platform already being used by Royal Bank of Scotland. MasterCard president and CEO Robert Selander said that 'we are pleased to solidify our relationship with Orbiscom, and by adding [its] expertise, intellectual property and team to MasterCard we will further accelerate the development of new payment solutions for our customers.' Ian Armitage, Chairman of HgCapital, added that 'this transaction brings to an end a round of successful realisations for HgCapital in recent months, despite the challenging market conditions. Orbiscom was one of a number of technology investments we made after the collapse of the technology boom in 2001 and 2002, which have proved extremely successful overall, thanks to our sector specialisation and the quality of management we have backed.'

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