Italian payments processor Nexi has signed an MoU to acquire a 51% stake in Alpha Bank's merchant acquiring business.
Under the MoU, Nexi will pay €157m for the stake, implying an evaluation of €307m on the total acquiring book. In addition, Alpha Bank is entitled to an earnout of up to €30.6m, subject to achieving certain targets in the first four years of operations.
The Greek business will be spun out to a new joint venture operation, under which Alpha Bank will become the exclusive distributor of acquring services and will receive referral fees. Nexi will consolidate the JV and expects it to generate gross revs of €93m and Ebitda of €18m in FY22.
The deal will make Nexi into one of the top three acquirers in the Greek market, alongside Piraeus and National Bank, with Alpha Bank retaining 20-30% market share.
Paolo Bertoluzzo, CEO of Nexi, says: "We will be providing to citizens, merchants and public administration an offer of innovative and technologically advanced solutions and services with the aim of making digital payments a daily experience that benefits the whole system. This agreement, in line with our selective investment strategy in markets with high-growth potential, represents a further step towards our path of creating value in a highly competitive and rapidly consolidating market".
The Transaction is expected to close in Q1 2022.