September 28 (SeeNews) - Croatia's competition authority said it has approved the acquisition of the merchant acquiring business of local payment card company PBZ Card by Nets CEE, part of Italian PayTech company Nexi Group and a subsidiary of Concardis Holding GmbH.
“Based on the complete notification of concentration, the defined structure of the relevant market, the post-merger market share of the parties to the concentration, expected effects of the concentration in the form of benefits for the consumers, as well as other data and findings, the Croatian competition agency found that it can be reasonably presumed that this concrete concentration will not produce any anti-competitive effects,” the anti-trust body, AZTN, said in a press release on Tuesday.
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The merger will produce effects in the acceptance of card payments, provision of POS terminal services and related services in Croatia and merchant acquiring services in the EEA.
The regulator said its assessment indicated that the acquirer Nets CEE is merely stepping into the boots of PBZ Card.
In June, Nexi said that it reached an agreement with Croatia's Privredna Banka Zagreb (PBZ), a subsidiary of Italian banking group Intesa Sao Paolo (ISP), and its payment cards unit PBZ Card to purchase PBZ Card's merchant acquiring business for a consideration of 180 million euro ($173 million). It also said back than that the deal needs also approval from the Serbian anti-trust authority.
($ = 1.104 euro)