Nexi Group, an Italian paytech company, has agreed to acquire Intesa Sanpaolo’s merchant acquiring business for €1bn.
According to Nexi, the transaction with the Italian banking group is being executed amid an increasingly competitive European market. The deal is also expected to contribute towards speeding up the payments digitisation process in Italy, said the company.
The merchant acquiring business comprises close to 180,000 merchants
The merchant acquiring business being sold by the Italian bank consists of nearly 180,000 merchants. Between October 2018 and September 2019, the merchants registered a total volume of transactions equal to around €66.2bn.
The transaction, which is subject to approval from the supervisory authorities, is expected to be completed within summer 2020.
Under the agreement, the parties have agreed to a marketing and distribution partnership for more than 20 years. As part of it, Intesa Sanpaolo has agreed to promote and distribute the technological solutions and services developed by the paytech company to its customers.
Nexi said that its existing industrial partnership with the Italian banking group in issuing and ATM acquiring services has been given an extension to align its duration with the transaction. The partnership between the two firms began with the purchase of electronic payments services provider Setefi from Intesa Sanpaolo in 2016.
Nexi CEO Paolo Bertoluzzo said: “The agreement with Intesa Sanpaolo represents another important step in the development of Nexi’s strategy, that confirms itself to be a key partner for the banking system in the field of digital payments development, a leverage for the modernization of Italy.”
Intesa Sanpaolo to acquire 9.9% stake in the Italian paytech company
In another development, Nexi’s reference shareholder Mercury UK HoldCo has agreed to sell a stake of 9.9% in the paytech company to Intesa Sanpaolo for €653m. The closing of the deal will be subject to the completion of the acquisition of Intesa Sanpaolo’s merchant acquiring business.
Intesa Sanpaolo stated: “The transaction will enable Intesa Sanpaolo to extract proper value from the acquiring activities currently carried out internally, through the contribution of its business line – taking into account that operating efficiently in this sector, in a competitive scenario of international scope, requires greater investment and economies of scale – while retaining an interest in a business with significant growth prospects.”
