- The acquisition of the high growth merchant acquirer PeP further strengthens Nets’ presence in Poland.
- With PeP being focused on SME merchants and having a strong presence in the card acceptance and point-of-sales terminals space, this deal has a convincing strategic fit, completing Nets’ offering to Polish merchants.
Nets, a leading player in the European payments industry, today announces its acquisition of Polskie ePłatności (“PeP”), a leading Polish merchant acquirer with an installed base of more than 125,000 point-of-sales terminals, offering a broad set of payment solutions for SME merchants.
The transaction values PeP’s Enterprise Value at EUR 405 million.
With this acquisition, Nets further strengthens its presence in Poland – one of the most attractive geographies in Europe given its low card penetration and double-digit growth in card usage, driven by the conversion from cash to card payments. This development is further supported by state initiatives promoting in-store electronic payment solutions.
Bo Nilsson, CEO of the Nets Group, says:
“PeP is the fastest growing payment technology company in one of the fastest growing digital payment economies in Europe, and we have been impressed by the PeP-team, their high-quality in-house operation and business performance. This acquisition follows our recent acquisition of Dotpay/eCard and the strategic alliance with Przelewy24, both of which are strong in e-commerce. With PeP’s strength with SME merchants on card acceptance and point-of-sales terminals, this deal has a convincing strategic fit, completing our offering to merchants in Poland.”
Jaroslaw Mikos, CEO of PeP, comments:
“We are excited to become part of a leading European player like the Nets Group. It will support our strong growth trajectory by strengthening our offerings across the merchant service value chain. Together, we can use our combined local capabilities and experience for the benefit of our customers.”
Krzysztof Kulig, Senior Partner at Innova Capital, says:
“With Nets’ acquisition of PeP, we are proving our ability to build successful companies in the financial services industry. PeP is Innova’s fifth successful transaction in the payment technology space, and during our ownership the company has grown extremely fast, becoming a leading Polish merchant acquirer. We believe that PeP will realise its significant potential in this dynamic industry as part of the Nets Group.”
PeP has more than 600 employees and expects net revenues of around EUR 55 million in 2020.
The acquisition is subject to approval by the respective authorities, and closing is expected to be within the third quarter of 2020.
