French eftpos outfit Ingenico has acquired Germany's easycash from private equity house Warburg Pincus for an enterprise value of EUR290 million.
The German POS network operator, headquartered in Ratingen, had around 340 staff in 2007, according to its Web site. That year it worked with 75,000 retailers, operating about 173,000 active terminals and checkout counters, and processing 886 million transactions.
In 2008 easycash posted revenues of EUR85.7 million, 56% of which came from transaction processing, 29% from POS terminal services and 15% from loyalty business.
Ingenico says the net increase in revenue should make the acquisition accretive from 2010 in terms of earning per share (before purchase price allocation).
To finance the deal, the French firm has negotiated a club deal bank facility of €270 million, including a €210 million term loan to fund the transaction and €60 million for working capital needs. This bank facility will replace the current syndicated loan at closing.
Philippe Lazare, CEO, Ingenico, says: "The acquisition of easycash is a major step in the strategic development of our group. This will enable us to accelerate our presence in the payment solutions and to grow our activities in Germany, one of the most promising payment markets in Europe. Finally, this acquisition will enhance value for our shareholders from the first year."
A final deal is still subject to approval from the German anti trust authority, Bundeskartellamt, and consultation of Ingenico's workers' council.