Worldline has reached an agreement with US-based First Data to acquire 100% of the share capital of First Data’s fully owned subsidiaries in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia known as First Data Baltics (FDB) in a €73m cash transaction.
FDB operates as financial processor in the Baltics, and serves to the main Baltic banking groups and also to some banks in the wider Nordic region. The company reported revenues of €23m in 2016.
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FDB provides Interbank clearing & switching services, issuing processing and associated value added services, ATM management, merchant services for acquiring banks through acquiring processing, including e-commerce capabilities, among others.
Worldline CEO Gilles Grapinet said: “The acquisition of First Data Baltics is a significant development for our Group to accelerate the execution of our Pan-European consolidation strategy in Financial Processing services.
“In one transaction, we gain a leading position in the fast-developing countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, we reinforce our group capabilities in the north of Europe and will establish new relationships with numerous prestigious Baltic and Nordic banks.
“We are extremely happy to welcome in the Worldline Group circa 200 new colleagues and payment experts, led by Zanda Brivule Jansone, a very talented CEO, and her management team.”
The transaction is likely to conclude during the third quarter of 2017.
