French lender Crédit Agricole has acquired a 7% minority interest in payment and transactional services firm Worldline.
Crédit Agricole said the investment builds upon the strategic partnership, which was announced last year, would lead to the creation of a major player in the French merchant payment services market.
In addition, the deal demonstrates Credit Agricole’s plan to support Worldline’s development and implementation of its strategy as a key European payment services provider.
Worldline, in a statement, said: “Crédit Agricole is an important commercial partner of Worldline and the two groups have entered into a long-term strategic partnership in merchant services, which was announced in H1 2023.
“This alliance would enable the creation of a joint venture with the ambition of becoming a major player in the French market, leveraging on the technological performance and innovation capabilities of Worldline, combined with the commercial strength and distribution networks of Crédit Agricole, further supporting Worldline strategy as a leading player in the European payment market.
“The stake in Worldline share capital is a testament to the strategic evolution of the European payment market and of the importance of this partnership as well as of the quality of the payment solutions that Worldline offers to its merchant and banking clients.”
Crédit Agricole said the preparatory work to establish the joint venture between Crédit Agricole Group and Worldline is underway, with an operational launch scheduled this year, subject to the customary regulatory approvals.
Earlier this month, Worldline announced a strategic partnership with Google to leverage cloud-based technologies from Google Cloud to enhance Worldline’s digital transformation journey.
