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Waud Capital Launches Initiative in the Payments and Financial Technology Sector

January 25, 2024         By: Mike Dautner

Waud Capital Partners, a leading growth-oriented lower middle-market private equity firm with $2.1 billion in assets under management, announces the appointment of Andrew Rueff as an operating partner, effective immediately.

In this new position, Mr. Rueff will work with the Firm’s business and technology services investment team and pursue new platform investments in the payments and financial technology sector, an initiative to which Waud Capital has initially committed at least $100 million of equity capital.

Mr. Rueff is a veteran of the payments industry with over 20 years of experience. In 2000, he was one of the original founders and architects of the recapitalization of TransFirst Holdings, Inc., a leading private equity-backed U.S. merchant solutions provider that was acquired by TSYS in January 2016 for $2.35 billion.

During his tenure at TransFirst Holdings, Mr. Rueff served as one of the top executive management members and held several senior executive positions, playing a significant role to transform the company into a top payments business in the U.S.

“In partnering with Andrew, Waud Capital underscores its commitment to finding and partnering with the best CEOs and senior executives in our focus industries,” said Justin DuPere, Principal at Waud Capital. “We have identified payments as one of the top business and technology services sectors to build and scale a new platform, and we are thrilled to be partnering with a world class executive like Andrew with whom we plan to create significant value.”

“I am excited to join the Waud Capital team and to establish and grow new platforms in the payments and financial technology sector,” said Mr. Rueff. “It is an opportune time to invest in these industries, in particular the integrated payments space, as an evolving competitive and technology landscape creates significant runway to build market-leading companies of scale. Waud Capital provides significant financial resources and access to world-class investment, research and human capital resources, which will serve us well as we establish a strategy and seek investments in this high growth industry.”

“Andrew brings to Waud Capital the right blend of business development experience and deep industry relationships, and he has a distinguished track record of generating attractive risk-adjusted returns for investors,” added Matt Clary, Partner at Waud Capital. “He significantly strengthens the Firm’s ecosystem to build and scale a leading platform in the payments space.”