BUCHAREST (Romania), January 18 (SeeNews) – Romania's competition authority said on Monday that it will look into the agreed takeover of the local business of UK-based payment solutions provider PayPoint's by CEE-focused private equity firm Innova Capital.
In order to determine whether the concentration is compatible with a normal competitive environment, the Competition Council will consider the notified transaction under the merger regulation, it said in a statement.
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In October, PayPoint announced that it has reached an agreement with Innova Capital for the sale of its Romanian business for some 47 million British pounds ($61 million/ 52 million euro).
According to the Competition Council, Innova Capital seeks to take over Pay Point operations in Romania through Innova/6 SCA SICAV, one of its investment funds.
PayPoint has been operating in Romania since 2007 through PayPoint Services SRL and PayZone SA, partnering-up with local retailers through around 19,000 sites to enable people to make cash bill payments, money transfers, road tax payments and mobile phone top-ups.
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 500 million euro, in 40 companies, across ten countries in the region.
PayPoint is a holding company which provides specialist consumer payment, and other services and products, transaction processing and settlement.
(1British pound = 1.1222 euro)