General Meters acquired by Heartland Payment Systems
22 October, 2007
category: Contactless, Education, Financial
It was just announced that one of the longest standing, leading campus card providers – General Meters Corp. – has been sold to Heartland Payment Systems, a leading merchant payment processor. Heartland is a newcomer to the campus card world launching its first installation of a campus card offering early this fall at Slippery Rock University. The project was notable for making use of contactless payments via tags that affix to student cellphones.
Heartland does have other campus connections, however. It serves as the payments processor for a reported 300 institutions, and the company acquired reader manufacturer Debitek about two years ago. Stay tuned … more details will follow as the CR80News editorial team can reach key players.
HEARTLAND PAYMENT SYSTEMS ACQUIRES GENERAL METERS CORPORATION
Acquisition Allows Heartland to Offer Universities Complete Payment and Campus Card Solution
Princeton, NJ—October 22, 2007— Heartland Payment Systems, a leading provider of credit/debit/prepaid card processing, payroll and payment services, today announced it has acquired General Meters Corporation, a developer and provider of one-card systems for college and university campuses. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1979, General Meters has grown into a leading provider of campus card solutions for universities and colleges nationwide. Its University One-Card System™ unites a range of functionalities – including security access, on-campus dining and vending, employee record keeping and copier/printer/fax control – onto one ID card for students, faculty and staff.
Adding yet a different kind of functionality to campus one-card systems, this fall, Heartland launched the first university contactless payment system in North America at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, PA. Using either an ID card or a cell phone, students, faculty and staff can make payments at on-campus locations as well as participating off-campus merchants.
“The combination of Heartland’s contactless payments application with General Meters’ University One-Card System will create the next-generation of one-card systems,” says Bob Carr, chairman and chief executive officer of Heartland Payment Systems. “The resultant all-inclusive campus ID and payment system will offer an efficient, cost-effective opportunity for colleges and universities across the country.”
General Meters’ more than 150 clients will be amongst the first to be able to implement this solution.
“Adding Heartland’s technology to the platform our clients already use will take these schools into the future,” notes Leon Gottlieb, founder and chief executive officer of General Meters. “The integration of contactless payments to the existing functionality of our one-card system will not only foster additional convenience and operational efficiencies for these schools, it will also give surrounding off-campus merchants the ability to increase their revenue by accepting university card payments.”
“We look forward to working with our new university clients gained through this acquisition – as well as colleges and universities nationwide – to bring state-of-the-art one-card solutions that improve student service and generate administrative cost savings,” Carr concludes.
About Heartland Payment Systems
Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., a NYSE company trading under the symbol HPY, delivers credit/debit/prepaid card processing, payroll and payment solutions to more than 150,000 small and mid-sized businesses nationwide.
Heartland is the founding supporter of The Merchant Bill of Rights, a public advocacy initiative that educates merchants about fair credit and debit card processing practices. For more information, visit www.heartlandpaymentsystems.com and www.MerchantBillOfRights.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release may contain statements of a forward-looking nature which represent our management’s beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are based on information currently available to us. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements due to many factors. Information concerning these factors is contained in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to, the Company’s registration statement on Form 10- K, or Form 10-Q as applicable. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.
Contact
Nancy Gross
Heartland Payment Systems
888-798-3131 ext. 2202
[email protected]
or
Kristen Forbriger
Gregory FCA Communications
610-642-8253 ext. 167
[email protected]
