Meta Beefs Up its Presence in Tax Refund Space
Meta Financial Group, the parent of MetaBank and Meta Payment Systems, said Oct. 3 it will buy EPS Financial LLC, which sells tax-related financial transaction products, for $42.5 million. The half stock, half cash deal will close in the fourth quarter, Meta Financial said. The deal comes after a similar move earlier this year by Meta in the tax refund space.
The EPS team, including President Clark Gill, will join MetaBank but remain in Easton, PA. Meta said it is unlikely it will need to seek capital to fund this acquisition. The bank anticipates that the deal will provide and “immediate accretion of over 10 percent to Meta’s earnings per share in the first full year of combined operations.”
EPS products include refund settlement products, prepaid payroll card solutions and merchant services. Last year, Meta bought Fort Knox Financial Services Corp. and its subsidiary, Tax Product Services, for approximately $50 million. Fort Knox’s Refund Advantage brand is a provider of professional tax refund-transfer software used by independent tax companies in more than 10,000 locations in the U.S., and processes more than 1 million refund transfers annually.
“This acquisition will further Meta’s competitive positioning in the tax payments industry. We are excited to welcome Clark and the entire EPS team to Meta,” said J. Tyler Haahr, chairman and CEO of MetaBank said. “As with the Refund Advantage acquisition, over time Meta will assume certain services provided by others to EPS and make available other Meta products and services to tax preparers and their customers, which should further enhance the economic benefits from this transaction.”
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