Private equity giant Advent International is buying a 51% stake in Argentinian payments firm Prisma Medios de Pago from a consortium of local banks and Visa International in a deal valuing the company at $1.42 billion.
Prisma Medios de Pago dominates the Argentinian market in a number of payments areas, including processing, merchant acquiring, electronic bill payments, ATM operations , P2P transactions and mobile wallets.
Outside Argentina, it also offers issuer and merchant acquiring processing services to clients in 14 countries across Latin America.
Juan Pablo Zucchini, managing partner at Advent International in São Paulo, says: "Prisma Medios de Pago is the leading player in a market poised for strong growth driven by the increasing penetration of electronic payments in Argentina."
Advent has made a series of investments in the payments arena in the last decade, committing $3.8 billion to eight different firms, including Vantiv, Worldpay, an d Concardis.
The transaction is slated to close by the end of January. Prisma Medios de Pago's current shareholders will keep a 49% stake in the firm.