Secure electronic payment solutions provider VeriFone Systems, Inc. (NYSE: PAY), announced Wednesday that had acquired Semtek, an endpoint encryption solution company. The transaction is an all stock transaction in which Semtek shareholders will receive VeriFone common shares valuing the company at $18 million.
VeriFone originally invested in the company in October 2007 and first incorporated Semtek’s encryption technology into its products in April 2008 with the announcement VeriShield Protect.
VeriShield Protect encrypts card holder information at the exact instant of acceptance, inside a secure, trusted device, and keeps that data encrypted throughout an enterprise, to ensure protection of information even in the event of a security breach.
VeriFone is offering royalty-free software licenses to device manufacturers and payment processors to further spur market adoption.
“With increasing market demand for our VeriShield Protect end-to-end encryption solution, acquiring Semtek’s core encryption technology ensures we can more effectively ramp up to meet customer demands and foster industry-wide acceptance of this critically important component to securing payment transactions,” said VeriFone Executive Vice President Bud Waller.
Semtek will be absorbed into VeriFone’s Integrated Systems organization.