May 26 (SeeNews) - CEE-focused private equity firm Innova Capital said that it is acquiring a majority stake in Romanian payment services provider Netopia, in order to expand its presence in the local financial services market.
The transaction will be completed upon receiving approval from the relevant authorities, Innova Capital said in a press release on Thursday. It did not disclose the size of the majority stake and the value of its investment.
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The transaction is Innova Capital's second investment in Romania after the acquisition of a stake in the local branch of UK-based payment solutions provider PayPoint for 47 million British pounds ($58 million/54.1 million euro) in 2020.
"We want to leverage our experience and know-how in the implementation of financial services to support NETOPIA’s growth and further strengthen its position in the Romanian payment solutions market," said Krzysztof Kulig, senior partner at Innova Capital.
Netopia was founded in 2003 and currently provides services to more than 25,000 merchants, mostly in the SME sector, and is responsible for processing 25% of Romania’s online card transactions.
Innova Capital is a mid-market private equity firm in Central Europe. Founded in 1994, Innova raised the first major CEE fund comprising entirely private capital. Since then Innova has invested almost 1.4 billion euro ($1.5 billion), in 70 companies, across ten countries in the region.
(1 GBP=1.15133 euro)