Online discount and coupons company RetailMeNot has been snapped up in a deal worth $630 million by Harland Clarke Holdings (HCH).
The deal, made in cash to the tune of $11.60 per share – a 50% hike on its April valuation – will see the integrated payment solutions and marketing services company tie RetailMeNot into its subsidiary Valassis, a provider of coupons and newspaper inserts bought for $1.3 billion in 2013.
According to the group, RetailMeNot’s premium digital audience distribution and brand will be combined with offers from a large client-base provided by Valassis to create a multi-channel network serving “tens of thousands of advertisers and hundreds of million of consumers globally”.
“RetailMeNot provides a new global digital channel to distribute our clients’ offers that perfectly complements Valassis’ current digital, mobile, mail and other print networks,” commented HCH CEO Victor Nichols.
Natural progression
Expanding Valassis’ digital scale, the deal is a natural progression for RetailMeNot’s business growth as well as a step towards becoming the leading savings site in the US.
For RetailMenot’s CEO and founder, Cotter Cunnigham, the deal marks a key milestone as the company gets closer to its goal of becoming consumers’ savings site of choice.
“Having founded RetailMeNot over seven years ago, I firmly believe that Valassis not only shares our commitment to consumers and merchant partners, but supports continued innovation in driving new solutions for retailers and brands,” commented Cunningham.
The sale has been approved by both companies’ boards and upon passing regulatory approval, it’s expected to close in the second quarter of 2017.
Among other coupon sites acquisitions in recent years is Rakuten’s buyout of US publisher Ebates for $1 billion in cash in 2014. In a more recent deal, LivingSocial was acquired by Groupon in a transaction valued at a price so low it didn’t have to be disclosed.