California ATM Network, 16-Year Managed Portfolio of 277 Locations

$590K

SDE

3.2x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a 16-year-old California ATM network with 277 active merchant locations concentrated in the Bay Area plus additional markets across the state. The business earns money through surcharge fees on cash withdrawals, and it is structured as a managed portfolio rather than a hands-on route. Cash loading, servicing, maintenance, vendor management, and reporting are all handled through an established professional infrastructure, meaning the owner functions more like an investor overseeing performance than a field operator.

The listing reports $590,000 in annual EBITDA against a $1.9M asking price, a 3.22x multiple. Revenue is not disclosed, which matters because ATM economics hinge on transaction volume per machine, surcharge levels, and the split between owned placements and merchant-owned terminals. With 277 locations, average EBITDA per machine is roughly $2,100, which is modest and implies the value sits in aggregate scale and diversification rather than a few high-traffic sites.

The seller is retiring after 15 to 16 years and offers a structured handover of the processor platform, reporting systems, and management relationships. The pitch is truly passive ownership: an existing market position that would take years to build placement by placement, delivered with the operating team already in place.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is spread across 277 locations with no single site carrying disproportionate value, which reduces the customer-concentration risk that kills most small route businesses. ATM surcharge revenue is transaction-based and largely recurring as long as merchant relationships hold, giving the $590K EBITDA a stable, annuity-like character.
The moat is scale and incumbency. A buyer inherits 277 negotiated merchant placements and the field infrastructure to service them, versus the grinding work of securing locations one storefront at a time. That existing position is genuinely hard and slow to replicate, which is the core of the seller's pitch.
Cash access is a defensive, non-discretionary service. People pull cash in good times and bad, and unbanked and cash-preferring segments keep ATM demand durable through downturns. This is boring, essential financial plumbing rather than a discretionary consumer spend.
The business is already manager-run with only one full-time employee needed for oversight, so an investor or an existing ATM operator can bolt this on without building a field team. For a strategic buyer already running routes, the incremental EBITDA drops straight through with minimal added overhead.

How to improve it

Demand the full transaction-level data room in the first 30 days and rank all 277 machines by monthly withdrawals and net surcharge. Cull or renegotiate the bottom-quartile underperformers and redeploy those terminals to higher-traffic merchants, since a handful of dead placements can quietly drag the whole portfolio.
Optimize surcharge pricing across the fleet. Many operators leave money on the table with uniform pricing, so test surcharge increases at high-traffic, low-competition locations where demand is inelastic, and measure the volume tradeoff machine by machine.
Audit the interchange and processor economics to confirm you are capturing the best available split. Renegotiating the processing agreement or moving to a more favorable sponsor can add margin across every transaction without touching a single merchant relationship.
Use the existing management infrastructure to add net-new placements in the Bay Area, since the listing states field operations can absorb more volume without a separate crew. Target high-footfall retail, convenience, and nightlife locations where cash usage is highest and per-machine economics beat the portfolio average.
Formalize merchant contracts and lock in multi-year exclusivity where possible. If placements run on handshake or month-to-month terms, tightening them protects the moat and materially improves the story and price at your own future exit.
Consolidate a fragmented California ATM market by rolling up smaller local operators using this platform as the base. The infrastructure and processor relationships are the expensive part, and each tuck-in acquisition can be integrated at low marginal cost.
Add secondary revenue at high-value sites, such as EMV upgrades, dynamic currency conversion on foreign cards, and advertising screens on the terminals. These layer incremental margin onto machines you already own and service.

Diligence notes

Revenue is not disclosed, so you cannot verify the $590K EBITDA without full transaction reports from the processor. Pull 24 to 36 months of processor statements to confirm transaction volume, surcharge per withdrawal, and the trend line, because a declining cash-usage curve would change everything about this deal.
Confirm which machines are company-owned versus merchant-owned or on merchant-fill arrangements, since that split drives both the true EBITDA and the working capital tied up in vault cash. Understand exactly how much cash inventory is required to run 277 machines and whether that is included in the price or an additional funding need.
The business is sold as management-in-place, so scrutinize whether that third-party or internal management team stays post-close and at what cost. If the passive structure depends on a vendor relationship or a single key manager, model the expense of replacing it and confirm those costs are already reflected in the $590K.
Verify the durability of the 277 merchant relationships, including contract terms, remaining length, and churn history. Ask how many locations were lost or replaced over the past three years, because placement attrition is the single biggest threat to an ATM portfolio's earnings.
Assess regulatory and compliance exposure around cash handling, AML, and armored transport, plus any liability from the cash-in-transit and vault operations. Confirm insurance, bonding, and that no location sits in a market with rising theft or vandalism losses.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →