Worldline to buy Banco Desio’s merchant acquiring activities for €100m
Global payment services provider Worldline is set to acquire 100% of Banco Desio’s merchant acquiring activities for €100 million and forge a commercial partnership with the Italian bank.
Worldline to acquire Banco Desio’s merchant acquiring activities
With the partnership, Worldline aims to leverage Banco Desio’s network so as to distribute its payment products and services to the bank’s merchant customers in Italy.
Banco Desio Group has a network of more than 230 branches in Italy and claims to deliver payment services to 15,000 merchants, generating 40 million transactions every year. It also manages more than 19,000 points of sale (POS) for merchants in its network.
The acquisition has been conducted through the Worldline MS Italy joint venture, which was set up following Worldline’s acquisition of Axepta Italy earlier this year. The deal is expected to close in Q1 2023 subject to regulatory approvals.
“This operation is fully in line with our strategy to further expand our merchant services activities towards the South of Europe and in particular in Italy, a highly attractive and strategic market for Worldline where we intend to continue leveraging our footprint,” says Gilles Grapinet, CEO of Worldline.
Grapinet adds that the transaction offers “attractive” development opportunities for the firm, as it looks to leverage the partnership to acquire more customers in the region.
Through the acquisition, Worldline expects to bring in additional annual revenue of €15 million in the first year with “expected double-digit organic growth” in the coming years.
Last month, Worldline acquired 40% stake in Dutch Online Payment Platform, and in July, it bought Eurobank’s merchant acquiring business in Greece.
