Netspend Sold Back to Founders at Rêv for $1 Billion

Payments company Rêv Worldwide, in partnership with Searchlight Capital Partners, has completed its $1 billion purchase of Netspend from Global Payments.

The all-cash transaction, announced Monday (May 1), puts prepaid card provider Netspend back under the control of founders Roy Sosa and Bertrand Sosa, who also founded Rêv.

According to a news release provided to PYMNTS, Netspend will still be a Global Payments partner, supporting its pay card business.

“This acquisition represents both a reunion and reimagining of the vision of financial empowerment we pioneered at Netspend more than 20 years ago,” said Roy Sosa, chairman and CEO of Rêv and now Netspend.

“Netspend has a well-deserved reputation for creating and delivering innovative products tailored to fulfill the important needs of all its customers, from the underserved to the affluent. This transaction sets us up for strong future success and profitable growth.”

The sale, first announced last year, is part of a commitment by Global Payments to divest itself from the consumer side of its business and focus on B2B clients.

In February, the company sold its gaming division – Global Payments Gaming Solutions – to private equity firm Parthenon Capital, which planned to turn it into a stand-alone independent company called Pavilion Payments.

Global Payments CEO Jeff Sloan said at the time that the $415 million sale was “consistent with our efforts to refine our portfolio to focus on our corporate clients and away from consumer-centric businesses.”

And last year, the company announced plans to acquire payment technology and acquiring solutions firm EVO Payments for $4 billion.

The deal – which became final in March – was designed to add accounts receivable software with broad third-party acceptance to its B2B software and payment solutions.

“The acquisition of EVO is highly complementary to our technology-enabled strategy and provides meaningful opportunities to increase scale in our business globally,” Global Payments President and Chief Operating Officer Cameron Bready said.

The Sosas founded Netspend in 1999. The company’s consumer business has processed hundreds of billions of dollars of cardholder purchases and established a retail partner network with more than 130,000 locations.

As PYMNTS noted last year, prepaid cards have proven popular around the world as a way to expand payment options for the financially excluded.

For example, the World Bank estimated that in 2021, nearly three-quarters of Egypt’s population was underbanked. However, prepaid debit cards are helping to boost the range of spending options available to consumers in that country.