SIA is partial to First Data’s European card processing for €375m
Deal gives SIA 13.3 million payment cards and 1.4 billion transactions
Italian paytech vendor SIA will acquire First Data’s card processing businesses in parts of Central and Southeastern Europe for €375 million.
In 2017, these businesses generated a combined revenue of approximately €100 million for First Data.
According to SIA, this acquisition provides card processing, card production, call centre and back-office services, including 13.3 million payment cards, 1.4 billion transactions, in addition to the management of POS terminals and ATMs.
These businesses are primarily located in seven countries: Greece, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.
Massimo Arrighetti, CEO of SIA, says it is “further strengthening its position in the e-payments international market, increasing its market shares in e-money high-growth countries”.
Frank Bisignano, chairman and CEO of First Data, adds: “This transaction aligns with our focus on portfolio management. While these are solid businesses, aspects of their operations are no longer core to our strategy, and this sale allows us to deploy the proceeds to create value in line with our capital allocation priorities.”
First Data is focusing on its European issuer processing business, “primarily” with its VisionPLUS platform.
The agreement includes the transfer of about 1,400 First Data employees into SIA. Neither firms make it clear if this involves redundancies.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018 and is subject to normal closing conditions.
Deutsche Bank and K&L Gates were respectively financial advisors and counsel to First Data on the transaction.
HSBC acted as financial advisor to SIA, White & Case as legal advisor and PWC as tax and accounting due diligence advisor.
Arrivederci
Earlier this month, Arrighetti announced his resignation for “personal reasons”. He will remain in office up to 15 June.
SIA said: “With regret, the chairman and directors accepted the decision taken by Dr. Arrighetti, and expressed to him their sincere thanks for the work he has performed during the eight years of his tenure in office, a period which saw SIA constantly grow in size to become a leading player in Europe in infrastructures and innovative payment services.
“During the same meeting, the board of directors resolved to delegate the powers to deputy CEO of the company, Nicola Cordone, who shall take them on at the time of Dr. Arrighetti’s departure.”
