Green Dot Buys UniRush For $147M Plus Earn-Out Payments

Green Dot announced Monday (Jan. 30) it inked a deal to buy UniRush and its operating businesses RushCard, an online direct-to-consumer general purpose reloadable prepaid card provider, and Rapid! PayCard, a corporate payroll card provider.

In a press release, Green Dot said the buy, which is part of its plan to enhance shareholder value, expands the company’s scale with the addition of the RushCard and Rapid! PayCard installed customer bases. It also establishes Green Dot as a stronger player in the growing corporate payroll card and wage disbursement market, the company said. The acquisition is expected to close prior to the end of the first quarter subject to customary closing conditions.

Green Dot is acquiring UniRush for $147 million plus a minimum $4 million annual earn-out payment for five years post-closing. The annual earn-out payment could become greater if certain revenue growth hurdles applied to the RushCard general purpose reloadable prepaid card programs are achieved in a given year, although any potential increase is not expected to be material to the overall price of the acquisition. The acquired company will be debt-free and cash-free at the time of closing with the exception of working capital items, Green Dot said in the press release.

“As one of the largest and most successful FinTech banking franchises in America, Green Dot has proven its ability to efficiently integrate highly accretive acquisitions. We believe the acquisition of UniRush, LLC, including the RushCard business and the Rapid! PayCard corporate payroll card business, will be a strategic and financial success in both the near and long term,” said Steve Streit, founder and chief executive of Green Dot. “In particular, the RushCard program has for many years been one of the most important and respected prepaid programs in America with a mission espoused by its legendary founder, Russell Simmons, strikingly similar to that of Green Dot’s long-time mission to reinvent personal banking for the masses and to empower the unempowered.”