Source: Heartland Payment Systems
Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE:HPY), 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.