Northern California ATM Network, 242 Managed Locations

$625K

SDE

3.5x

Multiple

Subscribe Free

Read the full deal writeup

Get Free Access

Already a member? Sign in

Full Editorial Writeup

This is a route-based ATM operating business, not an equipment sale. The portfolio consists of 242 active ATM placements across Northern California, generating roughly $625K in annual cash flow from surcharge and interchange income. The value sits entirely in the network: the machines in the field, hundreds of established merchant relationships, transaction history, reporting infrastructure, and a fully staffed operating team that handles cash loading, service, maintenance, and route work.

The economics here are simple and diversified. With income spread across 242 locations, no single merchant or account swings the month, which is a meaningful contrast to concentrated route businesses. The seller frames the pitch around avoiding the multi-year grind of building a network from scratch: instead of installing machines and waiting years for each spot to build transaction volume, a buyer inherits a mature, cash-flowing portfolio on day one.

At $2,195,000 against $625K in cash flow, the deal is priced at roughly 3.5x. The critical unknown is what that cash flow figure includes: whether it is truly owner-independent net after the operating team's payroll, or whether it is a topline surcharge number before the real costs of running the routes. The listing lists only 2 full-time employees, which is notably lean for servicing 242 field locations, so the labor and third-party servicing arrangement deserves close scrutiny.

Why we like it

The cash flow is genuinely diversified across 242 merchant locations, so no single account can crater a month. That granularity is the closest thing to annuity-style income you get in a route business, and it lowers the customer-concentration risk that kills most SMB deals.
This is a true managed asset, not a job. The operating team handles cash loading, service, and field work, and the listing describes it as owner-oversight rather than owner-operated, which makes it a legitimate semi-absentee acquisition for a buyer who wants cash flow without a daily grind.
ATM usage is defensive. People still pull cash in a downturn, and surcharge revenue is small-ticket and non-discretionary at the point of use, so the income base is more recession-resistant than most consumer-facing SMBs.
The moat is time and density. Building to 200-plus performing locations means individually sourcing, closing, and seasoning each merchant over years, so buying an established network with transaction history is a real shortcut a competitor cannot replicate quickly.

How to improve it

Audit every location's transaction volume in the first 30 days and rank by profit per machine. Prune or renegotiate the bottom decile of underperforming placements to free up route capacity and cash float for higher-yield spots.
Push surcharge fees to market where volume supports it. Many operators leave money on the table with legacy pricing, and even a modest per-transaction increase across 242 locations flows almost entirely to the bottom line.
Densify the existing Northern California territory by adding placements along current routes. New locations near existing stops make the field team more efficient per mile, improving margin on the fixed servicing cost.
Renegotiate the vault cash and processing arrangements. Interest cost on cash sitting in machines, armored-carrier fees, and processor rates are all levers, and scale across 242 units gives you leverage to compress those line items.
Lock down and lengthen merchant agreements. Convert handshake or month-to-month placements into multi-year contracts with exclusivity, which protects the network from competitors poaching high-volume sites and raises resale multiple.
Layer in a proactive uptime and monitoring dashboard so an out-of-service or low-cash machine is flagged instantly. Downtime is lost revenue at every location, and tightening service response directly lifts transactions per machine.
Explore bolt-on acquisitions of nearby smaller routes at similar or lower multiples. Consolidation spreads the same operating team and overhead across more machines, which is the fastest path to expanding cash flow and arbitraging the multiple.

Diligence notes

Nail down exactly what the $625K cash flow represents. Confirm it is net after the operating team's payroll, armored cash servicing, vault cash interest, processing fees, and machine maintenance, because 2 full-time employees servicing 242 locations suggests heavy reliance on contractors or third parties whose costs must be in the number.
Demand the location-by-location transaction and revenue data before committing. Concentration can hide inside a diversified-sounding portfolio if a handful of high-traffic sites drive most surcharge income, so verify the distribution of volume across all 242 machines.
Verify the merchant contracts and their transferability. Understand contract terms, remaining duration, renewal rights, and whether placements are exclusive or can be lost to a competitor, since the entire value is these relationships and their stickiness.
Confirm the durability of the operating team and servicing arrangement post-sale. Identify who actually loads cash and services machines, whether they are employees or vendors, what they are paid, and whether their continuation is contractual or a verbal promise.
Assess cash logistics and regulatory exposure. Money-transmitter and cash-handling compliance, insurance and bonding on cash in transit, and theft or fraud loss history all matter, and any gaps here are direct liabilities the buyer inherits.
Test the ATM fleet age and replacement schedule. Aging machines face EMV and Windows compliance cycles and eventual hardware replacement, so quantify near-term capex to keep 242 units compliant and operational before valuing the cash flow at 3.5x.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →