Financial technology specialist Blackhawk Network is buying the One4all gift voucher business from shareholders including state company An Post in a deal valuing the enterprise at €100 million.
Blackhawk confirmed on Friday that it is buying Gift Voucher Shop, the company behind One4all, which sells tokens accepted by a variety of retailers in the Republic and UK, from An Post.
“The agreement places an enterprise value on Gift Voucher Shop in the region of €100 million,” Blackhawk said.
The term enterprise value embraces the figure paid for a company along with its liabilities. Reports earlier this year suggested that Gift Voucher Shop could sell for more than €60 million.
An Post owned 53 per cent of the company and sold the vouchers through post offices around the Republic.
Peter Quinn, the State company's chief financial officer and Gift Voucher Shop chairman, described the return for its investment in the business as "significant".
‘Ongoing transformation’
He said that An Post would invest the cash raised in the “ongoing transformation” of its core business.
“An Post looks forward to working with the new shareholder of Gift Voucher Shop in growing One4all gift cards and other products as they emerge,” Mr Quinn added.
An Post bought its stake in Gift Voucher Shop in 2009 for €9 million. The State company noted yesterday that it helped the business to take a dominant share in the Republic’s market and expanding its presence in the UK.
Blackhawk's chief executive, Talbott Roche, said that the purchase would expand Blackhawk's European business.
Blackhawk Network Holdings is a financial technology group based in Pleasanton, California, in the US.
Businessman Michael Dawson founded Gift Voucher Shop in 2002 and remained a shareholder until Friday's sale. In 2017 the company earned profits of €7 million. The company hired Investec earlier this year to find a buyer for the firm.
