Worldline to acquire merchant acquiring activities of Banco Desio

Worldline, through the Worldline MS Italy joint venture, has agreed to acquire merchant acquiring activities of Banco Desio, an Italian banking group, for €100 million, in a move to strengthen its presence in the Italian market.

The transaction follows the acquisition of Axepta Italy earlier this year by the French payment and transactional services company and forming of the Worldline MS Italy joint venture.

The acquisition is expected to help Worldline distribute its full suite of end-to-end payment solutions to merchant customers of the bank in Italy through Banco Desio’s banking network.

Banco Desio Group with a network of more than 230 branches delivers payment solutions to nearly 15,000 merchants to generate close to 40 million transactions per year.

Gilles Grapinet — Worldline CEO said: “I am very proud to announce the acquisition of Banco Desio’s merchant acquiring activities.

“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 built last year through the acquisition of Axepta Italy early 2022 and the set-up of the Worldline MS Italy joint venture.

“This transaction offers attractive development opportunities for Worldline in the coming years, leveraging a strong banking network as a key commercial channel in order to distribute Worldline’s full suite of end-to-end payment solutions to merchants.

“With this transaction, Worldline keeps on playing the leading role in the consolidation of the European payments industry, with a focus on value-creating consolidation opportunities, enhancing Worldline scale, reach and significant presence in a growing number of countries.”

Expected to close in Q1 2023, the transaction is subject to the usual regulatory approvals.