Meta Financial Group makes another tax-refund move
MetaBank has finalised its purchase of a tax refund loan company, the latest in a series of acquisitions to give Meta a larger foothold in the tax services space.
The subsidiary of Meta Financial Group said it has completed its purchase of Texas-based Specialty Consumer Services for about $7.5 million in cash and the issuance of some 113,000 shares of Meta Financial common stock to Specialty investors. The deal also calls for additional payments of up to $35 million in cash and stock if certain unidentified performance benchmarks are met.
Specialty sells technology, underwriting and consulting services to national tax return preparation companies and helps craft no-fee, refund-advance products.
“The completion of this acquisition expands our presence in the tax services space,” said MetaBank CEO J. Tyler Haahr. “We are able to offer our customers, including H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt, as well as our internal divisions, including Refund Advantage and EPS Financial, additional solutions relevant to the industry.”
The Specialty team, including CEO Brent Turner, will remain with the unit.
In October, Meta Financial Group, the parent of Meta Payment Systems, said it would buy EPS Financial LLC, which sells tax-related financial transaction products, for $42.5 million.
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 US, and processes more than one million refund transfers annually.
