PORTLAND, Maine — South Portland-based payment processing company WEX Inc. said it has inked an agreement to buy a Nebraska company that makes software for health care billing for $80 million.
WEX announced Thursday that its board of directors and that of Nebraska-based Benaissance had entered into the purchase agreement, which is still subject to regulatory approvals.
The company did not specify Thursday how it would finance the latest deal. The company has sought to grow by expanding its reach from fleet fuel card payments to health care payment processing, primarily through acquisitions.
The company that has about 1,700 employees, with about 600 based in Maine, agreed to purchase the North Dakota-based health care payment processor Evolution1 last summer, for $532.5 million.
Melissa Smith, WEX’s CEO, said Thursday that the latest acquisition “builds on the success we have already had in the health care space,” expanding the company’s payment products in that industry.
The company has gained an increasing share of its revenue from outside its core business of fleet card payments in recent years, including in travel payment processing for sites such as Priceline, Orbitz and Expedia.
WEX said the Benaissance software, which manages financial transactions on public and private health insurance exchanges, would be integrated with the Evolution1 platform it purchased last year.
The company said it expects to close the deal in the fourth quarter of 2015.