Green Dot plans to acquire Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) for about $320 million, a move that will allow the prepaid card provider to add tax refund processing services through partnerships with tax preparers.
The acquisition should allow Green Dot to diversify its earnings as well as give the company access to a service that fits well with Green Dot's target customer base, said Steve Streit, founder, chairman and chief executive of Green Dot, in a Sept. 18 press release.
"As a point of reference, more than 50% of all tax refunds loaded to Green Dot's prepaid cards in the most recent tax season were processed by TPG," said Streit. "Furthermore, in the same period, we believe that the majority of tax refund dollars loaded to all prepaid cards industry-wide were processed through TPG."
Given the strong correlation between customer segments, Green Dot hopes to spot a revenue opportunity in bundling Green Dot's prepaid cards and checking accounts with TPG's consumer tax refund processing services.
Green Dot serves low- and moderate-income American families through a network of 95,000 retail stores, financial service centers and digital channels. The acquisition would generate mid-teens percentage accretion to 2015 non-GAAP earnings per share, Streit said.
Green Dot also recently phased out reload cards for security concerns that included tax-related payment fraud.
