Worldline, European leader in the payments and transactional services industry, today announced the signing of a binding agreement for the acquisition of 80% of Eurobank Merchant Acquiring activities, one of the main acquirers in Greece with a c. 20% market share.
Eurobank is one of the four systemic banks in Greece relying on a large distribution network of c. 300 branches, seeking to find the right and exclusive partner to acquire, operate and develop their merchant acquiring portfolio in Greece. Eurobank Merchant Acquiring (EBMA) is a meaningful card acquirer in the very dynamic Greek market with 21% share of transaction volumes processed in the country.
EBMA manages c. 219 million transactions acquired per year representing a payment volume of c. € 7 billion from a c. 190,000 POS network. The company serves a well-diversified and high-quality portfolio of 123,000 merchants of which more than 50% are SMBs in MSV terms.
„This acquisition represents an opportunity for Worldline to strongly expand its Merchant Services activities in this dynamic Southern European market, still driven by the shift from cash to card with a significant electronic payments adoption rate and online and e-commerce development,” the company said. In parallel, the exposure to the Greek economy fueled by the travel & hospitality industry offers added growth opportunities.
Gilles Grapinet, CEO of Worldline, said: “This operation is fully in line with our strategy to further expand our Merchant Services activities towards the South of Europe and at the same time allows us to leverage our footprint in Greece that was established earlier this year through the acquisition of Cardlink. The combination of both companies will create a meaningful, comprehensive and leading position in the fast-growing Greek market that is driven by a steady ongoing adoption of electronic payments. This transaction offers attractive development opportunities for Worldline in the coming years, building on our direct access to an existing merchants portfolio with a full suite of end-to-end payment solutions.
With Eurobank Merchant Acquiring, Worldline keeps on building the Europe of payments beyond its existing borders, with a focus on value-creating consolidation opportunities, enhancing Worldline scale, reach and direct presence in a growing number of countries.”
The key financial impacts of the transaction on Worldline are the following:
Additional annual revenue of c. € 35 million at closing with expected double-digit organic growth CAGR over the next 4 years;
OMDA margin of c. 30% expected at closing, with upside potential fueled by operating leverage and expected synergies leveraging the combination with Cardlink;
Estimated cash-out of c. € 256 million at closing (for 80% ownership, based on €320m EV);
Combined acquisition multiple of two complementary acquisitions in Greece (Cardlink and Eurobank) below 19x OMDA 2021 and c.15x OMDA 2021 including run-rate synergies
Eurobank to retain a 20% ownership in EBMA, and;
Closing expected in Q2 2022, subjected to satisfaction of customary condition precedent.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
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Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
