Christine Varney, assistant attorney general in charge of the DoJ antitrust division, says: “The Department of Justice’s proposed remedy ensures that competition will remain in point-of-sale terminals markets. The proposed sale of the Hypercom assets to Gores will create an independent and significant competitor in the United States, both right now and into the future.”
As to the significance of the Gores-owned entity, we’ll have to see. POS terminal manufacturing is a tough, low margin business where scale really matters. While the U.S. is the largest POS market, leaving plenty of opportunity, it’s also the most competitive.
Here’s the press release from the VeriFone site: http://www.verifone.com/2011/verifone-completes-acquisition-of-hypercom-corporation.aspx