Worldline completes acquisition of Greece’s largest network service provider

Worldline, the global leader in the payments industry, recently announced the completion of its acquisition of Cardlink SA, the leading Network Services Provider in Greece, as part of its wider European consolidation strategy.

Cardlink is the leading Greek Network Services Provider with an above 240,000 Point of Sale fleet (46% of POS transactions), managing around 500 million of transactions a year (53% Merchant Sales Volumes market share). The company provides more than 10,000 online merchants with strong value-added services through the Cardlink check-out offering and benefits from long-term relationships with Greek’s leading banks.

„The Greek market shows unique growth opportunities for Worldline, with a growing addressable market driven by the shift from cash to card and electronic payment adoption,” according to the press release.

„The integration of Cardlink will allow Worldline to expand in this high potential market, driven by unique access to the leading Greek payment acceptance network, and the opportunity to rapidly expand its Merchant Services activities. Worldline also intends to further develop Cardlink’s longstanding partnerships with key local acquiring banks and offer existing Cardlink customers access to Worldline’s innovative portfolio of services and solutions,” the company explains.

Cardlink’s leading position, coupled with Worldline’s global scale, best-in-class technologies, and payment expertise will help deliver double-digit revenue growth for the combined entity, while a robust integration program will support improvements in profitability, driven by operating leverage and cost efficiency.  

George Drimiotis, CEO of Cardlink, will remain as CEO and shareholder of Cardlink alongside Worldline and will be responsible for pursuing the development of Worldline’s activities in Greece, supported by an expert team of more than 100 new Worldline employees.