May 25 (SeeNews) - Italian payment infrastructure and services company SIA said on Friday it has signed an agreement to take over US electronic payment services group First Data Corporation card processing operations in parts of Central and Southeastern Europe (CSEE) for 375 million euro ($439 million).
First Data's CSEE card processing businesses are primarily located in seven countries: Greece, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia, SIA said in a press release.
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In 2017, these businesses generated a combined revenue of approximately 100 million euro for First Data.
The agreement includes the transfer of about 1,400 First Data employees into SIA, it said in a press release. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018.
"This acquisition is in line with our strategy to become the leading European independent digital payments platform. SIA is further strengthening its position in the e-payments international market, increasing its market shares in e-money high-growth countries,” SIA CEO Massimo Arrighetti said.
This acquisition by SIA provides card processing, card production, call center and back-office services, including 13.3 million payment cards, 1.4 billion transactions, in addition to the management of POS terminals and ATMs.
As a result of the transaction, SIA will become a leading player in processing and services in the region.
"This transaction aligns with our focus on portfolio management. While these are solid businesses, aspects of their operations are no longer core to our strategy, and this sale allows us to deploy the proceeds to create value in line with our capital allocation priorities," First Data CEO Frank Bisignano said.
SIA is active in the design, creation and management of technology infrastructures and services for financial institutions, central banks, corporates and the public sector, in the areas of payments, cards, network services and capital markets. SIA Group provides its services in 48 countries, and also operates through its subsidiaries in Austria, Germany, Romania, Hungary and South Africa. The company also has branches in Belgium and the Netherlands, and representation offices in the UK and Poland.
($= 0.8539 euro)