Bill Smith, the Birmingham entrepreneur who founded both Shipt and Landing, is involved with a fintech deal that will total $825 million to $1.1 billion.
In the deal, Smith’s private equity firm Smith Ventures will acquire and privatize Green Dot Corp.’s non-bank assets and operations and run it as an independent fintch and embedded finance company. In addition, CommerceOne will acquire Green Dot Bank and form a publicly traded bank holding company, which will serve as the fintech company’s exclusive issuing bank.
A press release estimated the deal at $825 million to $1.1 billion.
“This is a pivotal step for Green Dot and CommerceOne, bringing together a world-class embedded finance leader and a well-capitalized, trusted bank,” said Smith, CEO of Smith Ventures and a founding member of CommerceOne Financial’s board of directors. “With these transactions, we will drive sustainable value creation for all stakeholders. Combining Green Dot’s payments expertise and CommerceOne’s financial strength, we will be well-positioned to deliver exceptional experiences for customers, partners and employees.”
Kenneth Till, CEO of CommerceOne Financial Corp., said the planned transaction is “an ideal complement to CommerceOne’s value proposition.”
“We … look forward to expanding our talent base and becoming the exclusive issuing bank for the fintech, a business we believe holds significant, mutually beneficial growth and expansion opportunities,” Till said.
Said William I. Jacobs, chairman of the board and interim CEO of Green Dot: “This marks an exciting milestone for Green Dot and presents tremendous opportunity for the business and its shareholders, customers and employees. Through these transactions, management can focus on unlocking and maximizing the potential of the fintech business and take a more focused approach to reinforcing, sustaining and growing the bank. We look forward to sharing more on our plans and progress in the near future.”
