First Data has entered into an agreement to divest its card processing businesses in parts of Central and Southeastern Europe to payment services firm SIA for a total consideration of €375m.
In addition to card processing, the transaction covers card production, call centre and back-office services, including 13.3 million payment cards and 1.4 billion transactions.
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SIA will also gain the management of point-of-sale (POS) terminals and ATMs, as well as approximately 1,400 employees from First Data.
The Central and Southeastern Europe businesses are primarily operated from Greece, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.
Together, the businesses generated revenue of about €100m last year.
SIA CEO Massimo Arrighetti said: “This acquisition is in line with our strategy to become the leading European independent digital payments platform.
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By GlobalData“SIA is further strengthening its position in the e-payments international market, increasing its market shares in e-money high-growth countries.”
First Data chairman and CEO Frank Bisignano said: “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.”
The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, following which it is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.
