Paysafe, the U.K.-based payments provider serving a concentration of small and midsize merchants in global markets, is buying iPayment Holdings, a processor with a similar focus in the U.S. The move will bring 450 employees in Westlake Village, Calif.-based iPayment’s four U.S. offices and more than 137,000 merchant customers under Paysafe’s umbrella, putting it among one of the top five nonbank payment processors in the U.S., Paysafe said in a Friday press release. Paysafe will combine iPayment’s range of merchant services with its own—including its online prepaid service, paysafecard—within its integrated payments platform when the deal closes at the end of the second quarter, according to the release. Paysafe CEO Todd Linden will lead the merged operation and iPayment executives OB Rawls IV, currently CEO and president, and Robert Purcell, CFO, will remain as key executives on the leadership team, the release said. Paysafe also will take over iPayment's role as a sponsor of the North America IndyCar series. “This targeted acquisition is part of our long-term investment strategy to grow our business in North America,” Paysafe President and CEO Joel Leonoff said in the release. Paysafe, which has 2,600 employees and handled $56 billion in total transaction volume last year, acquired Merchant Choice Payment Solutions in August 2017. Within the past two years iPayment has expanded its own operations within the U.S., adding new vertical markets, Rawls said in the release. RBC Capital Markets advised Paysafe on the deal; other terms were not disclosed.