SAN JOSE, Calif. — VeriFone Systems here and Hypercom, Scottsdale, Ariz., two electronic payment terminal vendors that supply food retailers, said they intend to work with the U.S. Justice Department “to better understand its concerns” regarding the antitrust ramifications of their merger agreement, and assess various options for the planned divestiture of Hypercom’s U.S. business, including the possibility of a divestiture to an alternative buyer.
The Justice Department has filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against VeriFone and Hypercom, which announced last November that they had entered into a merger agreement. In an effort to resolve potential antitrust issues with the merger, Hypercom announced in April that it had entered into an agreement to sell its U.S. point-of-sale terminal business to Ingenico S.A.
However, the Justice Department said in a statement that “the planned sale of Hypercom’s U.S. POS terminal business to Ingenico does not resolve the antitrust concerns raised by the VeriFone/Hypercom transaction because the assets are to be sold to another significant competitor in the market in a manner that does not create a new, independent, long-term competitor.”
The companies said they “continue to believe in the compelling benefits that the merger will provide to customers, employees and stockholders.” Assuming a successful resolution of “this and other closing conditions,” the companies believe that the merger can be completed in the second half of 2011.
