Eftpos vendor Ingenico has acquired a 51% share in XA, a Switzerland-based provider of electronic payment terminals. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Ingenico says the deal will enable it to break into the Swiss payment terminal market, which will soon be boosted by the move to EMV standards. Ingenico says adoption of the new standard in Switzerland will involve the replacement of some 80,000 payment terminals in the next few years.
XA was formed in Fribourg, Switzerland, in 2003. The company's existing payment terminals compliant with the ep2 standard and based on the Intel XScale platform and Linux, and are sepcifically designed for the Swiss market.
Commenting on the deal, Gérard Compain, Ingenico Group CEO, says: "Up until now, we have had little presence in Switzerland, which happens to be a high-value market with major potential, especially for our merchant and service offers.
"With EMV/ep2 migration under way, we will be growing our business in the country fast, not only by winning a large share of the payment terminal market, but also by delivering related solutions and services."