M&A Report: Ellie Mae, 2Checkout and The McClatchy Company In the News

In keeping with our mission to provide comprehensive advertising analysis, MediaRadar puts together a report of the most important mergers and acquisitions news each week. Stay in the loop, whether you sell advertising space or focus on business development.

This week, Intercontinental Exchange Group gained Ellie Mae. VeriFone Systems strengthened its market potential by purchasing point-of-sale provider 2Checkout and Chatham Asset Management bought publisher The McClatchy Company.

Intercontinental Exchange Group Acquired Ellie Mae

Intercontinental Exchange Group acquired Ellie Mae, for approximately $11 billion. Ellie Mae is a software company that processes 35% of U.S. mortgage applications.

Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, previously acquired two other mortgage services companies. Founder and CEO of IntercontinentalExchange, Jeffrey Sprecher is married to Kelly Loeffler, Republican senator from Georgia.

The couple has an estimated net worth of $800 million-$1 billion, and the acquisition is likely to make Loeffler the richest person on Capitol Hill.

Intercontinental Exchange anticipates that the acquisition of Ellie Mae will elevate its third quarter results by bringing revenue up from $67 million to $72 million.

VeriFone Systems purchased point-of-sale provider 2Checkout

Paypal rival 2Checkout, an all-in-one monetization platform for global businesses, was acquired by global point-of-sale (POS) provider Verifone. Many details of the deal, including financials, have not been disclosed.

However, 2Checkout, which has more than 17,000 customers, stated that they will bring increased “financial strength, scalability, resources, relationships, and market potential” under their new parent.

The acquisition comes at a time when digital sales are becoming increasingly prevalent, in large part thanks to the Covid-19 global pandemic and lockdown response. For this reason, 2Checkout transactions increased by 15% in the first quarter of the year.

Notably, Verifone has also experienced a period of financial stability following a somewhat tumultuous couple of years after being acquired for $3.4 billion by private investment group Francisco Partners in 2018.

Chatham Asset Management bought The McClatchy Company

The McClatchy Company, a publisher of 29 daily newspapers in 14 states and an average weekday circulation of 1.6 million, was acquired by the hedge fund Chatham Asset Management LLC.

McClatchy, which runs titles such as the Miami Herald, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Charlotte Observer, and Kansas City Star, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February.

The newspaper chain also said it expects to transfer management of its $1.4 billion pension plan to the U.S. government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. The new company will continue to operate under the McClatchy Company name, but will be run by a new CEO Tony Hunter, the former publisher of the Chicago Tribune.

Since 2019, Hunter has been chairman of Revolution Enterprises, a cannabis firm based in Illinois and the largest producer of medical cannabis in that state.

In Other News

Other deals have been announced, but not yet completed:

Bankrupt retailer J.C. Penney Company, Inc. announced that it has officially reached an agreement with mall owners Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Group, in which the two mall owners intend to acquire all of JCPenney’s retail and operating assets for $1.75 billion.

CRM giant, Salesforce, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Mobify, a eCommerce platform that specializes in optimizing retailer websites across multiple platforms, including smartphones and tablets.

Business application platform Progress Software Corporation announced that it is acquiring Seattle-based automation technology company Chef Software, Inc. for $220 million in cash.

Baring Private Equity Asia, a private alternative investment firm, is acquiring American information technology services company Virtusa Corporation for $2 billion.