As Global Payments seeks to grow its presence in the business-to-business payments market, the company’s head of B2B aims to develop a cohesive approach to potential acquisitions.
“I’m very sensitive to not creating a hodgepodge of just B2B things,” said Brian Greehan, head of B2B solutions at the Atlanta-based payment processor, during a recent interview.
Greehan, who joined the company in June 2022, said B2B is “front and center” as Global Payments evaluates merger and acquisition opportunities. The company acquired B2B software company MineralTree in 2021 and payment services provider Evo Payments last year. Former Global Payments CEO Jeff Sloan and current CEO Cameron Bready suggested earlier this year that a B2B-related purchase could be on the horizon.
Greehan declined to identify how soon the company might make a B2B-focused purchase, noting the need to be opportunistic yet responsible in pursuing M&A.
“There’s a lot of good technology out there; doesn’t necessarily mean they’re all great businesses,” Greehan said. “There’s a lot of quick revenue stories, but do they have the ability to scale, are they truly complimentary, how would they integrate with us?”
In considering a potential acquisition, Greehan said he would evaluate whether a potential target’s go-to-market strategy and ideal customer profile align with the B2B assets Global Payments already has. “I want to be sure that we’re actually investing in things that can truly accelerate organic growth for us,” he said.
The company introduced B2B as a key part of its growth strategy with the purchase of MineralTree, which offers accounts payable automation. Currently, B2B revenue for Global Payments is “north of $600 million,” Greehan said, without being more specific. The company reported full-year revenue of $8.98 billion in 2022, according to its most recent annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Greehan declined to identify a revenue milestone the B2B unit is working toward, but said he’s focused on efficiency integration of the B2B assets in the next six to 12 months. The company has virtual card issuing capabilities through TSYS, which Global Payments merged with in 2019; accounts payable capabilities through MineralTree and TSYS; and accounts receivable capabilities with the Evo purchase, Greehan said.
With its current B2B assemblage, Greehan is tasked with “how do you take all of these B2B assets and bring them to market in an effective way?”
The middle market tends to be where Global Payments is focused, and that’s especially true for MineralTree and Evo Payments, Greehan said. He referred to the middle market as companies generating between $10 million and $100 million in revenue.
Although Global Payments has built a “very strong foundation” with that group of assets, the company doesn’t yet have everything it needs to be a B2B one-stop shop, Greehan said. So Global Payments will continue looking to build or buy to reach that point, he said.
There’s no dominant player in B2B payments, Greenhan said. “B2B is super fragmented,” he said. The market features a slew of providers, from enterprise resource planning software companies, to cross-border payments providers, he added.
”No one is really owning it end-to-end, and there’s an opportunity for us, because of the unique distribution model that Global has built,” Greehan contends. That includes going to market through independent software vendors, financial institutions and directly to companies.
“For Global, that is the part that I think makes us particularly well-suited to grow quickly,” Greehan said. “We have these different distribution paths with deep customer relationships.”
