The European payments landscape is set for further consolidation after Worldline and Equens announced that it would be merging their payment processing business. In addition to the merger, Worldline is also acquiring Equens’ commercial acquiring unit, PaySquare for €72 ($79) million. According to the deal, Worldline will own 63.6% of the combined Equens Worldline processing business with Equens’ owners (ABN Amro, ING, Rabobank, DZ Bank, and ICBPI) owning the rest.
Commenting on the deal, Gilles Grapinet, Worldline CEO said,
“From a shareholders’ perspective, this combination will provide significant value creation through the realization of considerable synergies, while preserving our strong financial flexibility. This merger will also allow us to provide to our respective customers even more efficient, reliable and highly innovative payment services.”
With the combined resources, the new merged business should have better economies of scale and make a significant impact on the European payments processing space. As competition in the payments processing space increases from both traditional and new entrants, ensuring that a company has the flexibility and products to stay competitive is paramount and this merger should help the combined company remain successful in the long run.
Overview by Tristan Hugo-Webb, Associate Director, Global Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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