The management team of Welcome Real-time, a France-based provider of payment card technology, has completed a buy-out of the company with the support of AXA Private Equity. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In a statement the vendor says AXA Private Equity has acquired a majority stake in its business, with the remaining shares purchased by the current management team.
Welcome provides smart card loyalty systems to banks in 21 countries around the world. The vendor's technology is designed to boost revenue by enabling banks to add new applications - such as loyalty points, coupons and cask back features - to payment cards.
The company employs 140 staff across its offices and R&D facilities in Aix-en-Provence, Singapore, London, Milan, Madrid, Miami, Shanghai and Sao Paulo.
Commenting on the MBO and AXA Private Equity investment, Sébastien Guillaud, Welcome's CEO, says: "Our performance has been very good over the past few years, and our biggest and fastest growth is still to come. Having a fresh, new major investor on board is critical during this transition phase.
"AXA Private Equity is very excited about our potential and will give us all the support we will need to achieve our goal of becoming irresistible to banks everywhere."