VeriFone has moved to boost its European presence, entering into exclusive talks to buy the point-of-sale business of Gemalto as part of a wider strategic partnership between the two firms.
US-based VeriFone says Gemalto's France-based POS business would "serve as an ideal launching pad for VeriFone's planned European expansion campaign". The value of any deal was not disclosed.
Only last month VeriFone sought to expand its footprint in Europe through a £337 million hostile bid for another rival card terminal outfit, Hypercom. The move was vigorously rejected by Hypercom.
VeriFone and Gemalto have also agreed to team on new chip card offerings based on the global EMV payment standard. They argue that this comes as US retailers and card networks increasingly acknowledge chip card and contactless technologies as a core component of security infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Gemalto will become the preferred supplier of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) wireless modules and related technology for VeriFone payment systems.
Douglas Bergeron, CEO, VeriFone, says: "This unique partnership between world leaders assists both companies in focusing on key strategic areas while relying on a trusted partner to provide complementary solutions. We look forward to developing with Gemalto innovative EMV solutions, in particular for the US market.
Separately, Gemalto has posted third quarter revenues of EUR500 million, up 25% at historical rates on the same period the previous year.