(Reuters) - Software company Sage Group Plc <SGE.L> said on Monday it will sell its payment processing unit Sage Pay for about 232 million pounds ($296.87 million) to Elavon, a payments company and unit of U.S. Bancorp <USB.N>.
Growth in payment systems has kept deals rolling with Fidelity National Information Services Inc's <FIS.N> buyout of Worldpay for about $35 billion earlier this year. In January, U.S.-based Fiserv Inc <FISV.O> bought payment processor First Data Corp for $22 billion.
Sage Group expects a statutory profit on the disposal of about 180 million pounds, following completion of the deal.
The disposal comes more than two months after the company first said it was looking into potential options for its payments arm. It said the divested business will remain an important payments partner after completion.
"The acquisition extends Elavon's market share in the UK and Ireland, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises where Sage Pay is a highly-trusted payments gateway with a loyal customer base," Elavon said.
Sage Group also agreed to sell its U.S. payroll outsourcing business earlier this year for 78 million pounds, as part of its strategy to focus on subscription services by moving more products to the cloud.
(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
