By David French

ATLANTA, Oct. 11 (Reuters) – Jeff Sloan, CEO of Global Payments Inc, said in an interview that he would be open to a big acquisition again, two years after he acquired his counterpart TSYS in a deal to $ 21.5 billion, while continuing to chase down small bolts. on purchases to support growth.

“I certainly see transactions as big as TSYS in our future,” Sloan, who has headed the Atlanta-based payment processor since 2013, told Reuters last week.

Global Payments, one of the world’s largest providers of business transaction services, has rounded out its offering with the acquisition of TSYS, which processes credit card transactions for banks.

Sloan said it was essential to continue to gain momentum in the rapidly consolidating industry, which is now dominated by e-commerce.

The acquisition of Global Payments now focuses on software and other technology platforms, Sloan said.

The software allows Global Payments to capture a greater portion of revenue in industries where the company already has a strong franchise, such as healthcare, financial institutions and quick-service restaurants, Sloan added.

The merger with another large payments company would only be attractive if it offered substantial operations in a geographic area where Global Payments did not have a presence outside of the United States, Sloan said.

Global Payments agreed in September to acquire MineralTree, a cloud-based software platform, for $ 500 million. It will accelerate its transition to business-to-business payments, as its traditional strength has been to facilitate transactions between businesses and consumers.

The business-to-business payments industry is also attracting significant investor interest, as advances in digital technology provide significant savings for companies adopting them. The value of shares of Bill.com Holdings Inc has risen nearly 12 times since the cloud-based business payment platform went public two years ago. AvidXchange Holdings Inc Inc, which provides payment services to businesses and their providers, said on Friday that it expected its initial public offering to raise more money this week at a higher valuation.

The MineralTree transaction brought Global Payments spending on targeted acquisitions to $ 2.5 billion over the past ten months. (Reporting by David French in Atlanta; editing by Diane Craft)