Shift4 Payments Inc. is bulking up its operations in Europe on the eve of founder and chief executive Jared Isaacman’s departure to run the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Allentown, Pa.-based processor announced late Tuesday a $2.5-billion agreement to acquire Global Blue, a Switzerland-based international platform providing transaction services for high-end merchants, including tax refunds and currency conversion.
President Donald Trump nominated Isaacman for the NASA post in December. Long-time president Taylor Lauber has been named to assume the CEO role.
Lauber in a statement on Tuesday hailed the deal for Global Blue as “the most significant of [Shift4’s] 26 years of history.” It also bolsters Shift4’s position in its efforts to extend its processing services to overseas markets, he added, noting “the Global Blue technology stack, marquee customers, and industry-leading position will serve as a cornerstone for our global expansion strategy and gives us meaningful scale in many new geographies.” Among Global Blue’s 75,000 clients are such luxury brands as LVMH, Prada, Bottega, Veneti, and Fendi.
The agreement to buy Global Blue follows Shift4’s acquisition early last year of Finaro, an Israel-based processor with extensive operations in Europe, for $525 million. It followed up that deal with its move in June to buy a majority stake in Germany’s Vectron Systems AG, a provider of merchant services and point-of-sale technology.
Shift4 will pay $7.50 per common share for Global Blue, which altogether serves more than 400,000 retail and hospitality locations, according to data from Shift4. The price represents a 15% premium to the company’s closing share price on Feb. 14. It will buy Global Blue’s Series A Preferred shares for $10.00 per share and its Series B Preferred shares at $11.81 each.
Observers have reacted positively to the deal. “Global Blue will enrich Shift4’s product suite and expand its international delivery footprint,” notes Eric Grover, principal at Intrepid Ventures, a payments consultancy, in an email message. “Enabling low-friction, tax-free shopping at scale is fabulous for consumers and merchants, and will strengthen Shift4.”
“Global Blue’s [dynamic currency conversion] franchise … also will strengthen Shift4. While Shift4’s home market, the U.S., is the world’s largest, it’s mature. A greater international presence should buoy Shift4’s long-term growth,” Grover says. Following the deal for Finaro, “Global Blue further bulks up [Shift4’s] business overseas.”
Cliff Gray, principal at Gray Consulting Ventures LLC, also expects the deal for Global Blue to help Shift4 “expand [its] footprint overseas, especially into APAC, where Global Blue’s large footprint is complementary,” he says by email. APAC is a reference to the Asia-Pacific region.
Other observers hailed Shift4’s latest deal. “We are bullish on Shift4’s ability to monetize Global Blue’s impressive merchant base with its market-leading Unified Commerce (UC) platform, rivaling the market’s largest participants,” said William Blair analysts in a research note late Tuesday. “Importantly, we think Shift4 can finance the Global Blue deal with its balance sheet.” Unified Commerce, long a strength at Shift4, refers to a processor’s ability to handle transactions flowing from multiple channels on a single platform.
Shift4 reported Tuesday it processed $47.9 billion in end-to-end payment volume in the fourth quarter of 2024, up 49% from the same quarter in 2023. End-to-end payments are transactions handled entirely in-house, as opposed to gateway operations by which merchants direct transactions to other processors. Gross revenue less network fees totaled $405 million, a 50% increase, while net income jumped 93% to $139.3 million.
