Safeway's Blackhawk to Buy Prepaid Payment Processor
PLEASANTON, Calif. - Safeway subsidiary Blackhawk Network, a card-based financial solutions provider and marketer of third-party prepaid cards plans to acquire EWI Holdings, Inc. (EWI), a provider of prepaid payment processing technology and services.
The acquisition will expand Blackhawk' market and enhance its ability to service a wide spectrum of retailers with turnkey transaction technology and services. The acquisition is expected to close in shortly.
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"The acquisition of EWI adds robust capabilities to our existing solutions, addressing the specific needs of our retail partners and accelerating the rapid growth we have experienced in the last few years," said Don Kingsborough, president and c.e.o. of Blackhawk Network. "We also believe EWI's technology will enable us to deliver our existing products on new networks and bring new products to market faster."
EWI, based in San Diego, Calif., developed its PayGo transaction processing platform for the cash payments industry. PayGo enables merchant processors, acquirers, and prepaid distributors to manage the entire category of prepaid services on a single transaction platform residing on retailers' terminals, point of sale systems, or other transaction networks.
The Blackhawk Network includes more than 60,000 store fronts and reaches more than 135 million consumers each week.
The acquisition will expand Blackhawk' market and enhance its ability to service a wide spectrum of retailers with turnkey transaction technology and services. The acquisition is expected to close in shortly.
(Story continues below.)
"The acquisition of EWI adds robust capabilities to our existing solutions, addressing the specific needs of our retail partners and accelerating the rapid growth we have experienced in the last few years," said Don Kingsborough, president and c.e.o. of Blackhawk Network. "We also believe EWI's technology will enable us to deliver our existing products on new networks and bring new products to market faster."
EWI, based in San Diego, Calif., developed its PayGo transaction processing platform for the cash payments industry. PayGo enables merchant processors, acquirers, and prepaid distributors to manage the entire category of prepaid services on a single transaction platform residing on retailers' terminals, point of sale systems, or other transaction networks.
The Blackhawk Network includes more than 60,000 store fronts and reaches more than 135 million consumers each week.