By Niket Nishant
(Reuters) – Global Payments will sell its health software business, AdvancedMD, to investment firm Francisco Partners for $1.13 billion, the companies said on Wednesday, as the financial technology company scales down and focuses on its core business.
The company’s shares rose nearly 4% after the company also unveiled a $600 million accelerated share repurchase plan using some of the proceeds from the deal.
“This decision increases concentration, reduces exposure to the challenging healthcare market and generates capital that can be returned to shareholders through a buyout,” William Blair analysts said.
The divestment follows a trend as some companies in the fiercely competitive payments industry focus on areas with the greatest growth potential rather than chasing expansion at all costs.
“We know that global does not mean everywhere.” Global Payments (NYSE:) CEO Cameron Bready said last month.
Separately, the company saw a nearly 13% drop in profit in the third quarter due to higher costs.
Founded in 1999, AdvancedMD provides payment services and other software to independent physicians and tiny and medium-sized healthcare facilities in the U.S.
Global Payments acquired AdvancedMD in a $700 million deal in 2018.
“We did not consider AdvancedMD a priority asset for sale by Global Payments because we felt the stability and monetization of payments made it worth holding,” said JPMorgan analyst Tien-tsin Huang.
Francisco was an investor in AdvancedMD many years ago.
The investment firm purchased the health analytics and medical services units of CVS Health (NYSE:), IBM (NYSE:) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:) over the past few years.
The AdvancedMD transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Moelis (NYSE:) & Co is financial advisor to Francisco, while Bank of America advised Global Payments.
