European payments firm Worldline is paying A$485 million for a 51% stake in ANZ's commercial acquiring business, creating a joint venture with the Australian bank.
The deal creates a 51%-49% JV controlled by Worldline to operate and develop commercial acquiring services in Australia with ANZ Bank, the country's third largest acquirer with a 20% share of transaction volumes.
Worldline says the move enables it to expand its merchant services out of Europe and into an attractive payment market that is similar to its home market in terms of structure, payment standards and technology. The fifth largest economy in Asia, Australia has a high adoption of electronic payments but with significant room for growth, says Worldline.
Says a statement: "The combination of ANZ’s strong market position and Worldline’s global scale, best-in-class technologies and payment expertise will allow the alliance to grow revenue at a double-digit rate in the coming years."
The move also marks the first success for the newly-created Merchant Services-Financial Institutions division born out of the recent multi-billion euro Worldline-Ingenico combination.
Gilles Grapinet, CEO, Worldline, says: "Backed by a solid macroeconomic environment and a strong long-term growth potential, the Australian market represents a rare opportunity to scale-up our platforms and roll-out our innovative solutions in very close partnership with such a leading institution as ANZ."