Heartland Sells SmartLink Payments Business

Payments security firm EchoSat has acquired SmartLink from Heartland Payments Systems, the companies, which have been in partnership for five years, said on Monday (Jan. 4). The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In a press release, EchoSat said that it will be taking on the SmartLink secure payment gateway and network services businesses, with an expansion into the petroleum, convenience store and fast food restaurant industries, among others, spanning 21,000 merchant locations.

EchoSat operates a high-speed network through which payments data is sent securely through a broadband connection, chiefly through digital subscriber lines and wireless and satellite networks.

Through a statement issued alongside the release, Mark Carl, chief executive officer of EchoSat, said: “EchoSat has provided the core of the Heartland SmartLink secure payments solution since its inception in 2010. Heartland has always been at the forefront of payments security, and we look forward to assisting them in continuing to deliver innovative security and redundancy options to their merchants and retailers through our SPG and PaySafe SPG products.”

In addition to the acquisition, EchoSat is entering into a channel partner agreement. The agreement will entail that the Heartland sales reps “will continue to promote” a series of EchoSat products, ranging from PaySafe SPG, which is a firewall solution, to EchoSat SPG to SmartLink Platinum. The sales reps will tap merchants in existing channels but will also seek business in new channels. Each retail location receives a separate cellular connection.

As was reported toward the end of last year, Global Payments System said it would acquire Heartland in a deal valued at as much as $4.3 billion, and the deal has a strategic component that would expand the former’s reach into small and midsized merchants, according to the merger announcement.