ATM operator Cardtronics announced it will acquire United Kingdom-based Cardpoint for $155 million in cash. Cardpoint, previously owned by Payzone Ventures, has over 7,000 ATMs under the Cashzone brand in the UK as well as another 800 ATM terminals in Germany. Cardpoint reported that it generated $101 million in revenues from June 2012 to June 2013.
With its acquisition, Cardtronics can now combine its new ATM fleet with its existing 4,300 ATM terminals in Europe and will call the new unit Cardtronics Europe. Cardpoint CEO Jonathan Simpson-Dent will become managing director of Cardtronics Europe and Andreas Raabe of Cardpoint continuing to lead the German operations.
Steve Rathgaber, CEO of Cardtronics commented on the acquisition:
“In the UK, in Germany – this combination of the Cashzone, Cardpoint and Bank Machine ATM portfolios creates scale, synergies and geographic coverage on a level much quicker than its constituent parts could have achieved alone.”
Given the ongoing economic malaise in Europe, cash remains popular across the continent. In fact, roughly 14 percent of the adult population in the UK used cash for all of their day-to-day purchases in 2012, according to the UK Payments Council. With the acquisition of Cardpoint, Cardtronics will now be a dominant cash provider in Europe in the years to come and benefit from cash’s popularity among European consumers.
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