Worldline Agrees to Acquire Digital River World Payment

Worldline, a French Payments company, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Digital River World Payments, a Swedish peer and a leading online global payment service provider, as merger activity in the payments sector pick up following this month’s takeover of Worldpay.

Worldline did not unveil the amount of its acquisition for Digital River World Payments (DRWP), but the company said that DRWP obtained a gross revenue of around 37 million euros, or $42.3 million, in 2016.

DRWP is a subsidiary of Digital River Inc., a leading global provider of Commerce-as-a-Service solutions, and employs approximately 120 employees worldwide. It was founded in 1997 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. With a global payment gateway, multi-acquiring and collecting services under one roof and having generated annual gross revenue of a 37 million euro in 2016. It delivers comprehensive online payment acceptance and optimization solutions for leading enterprise brands, spanning different industries, including travel, retail, direct selling and digital goods. Its global platform and large geographical footprint, support international payment schemes and currencies across 175 countries, a wide range of local payment brands and methods, and more than 40 acquiring bank connections.

On the other hand, Worldline is a subsidiary of Atos, a global leader in Digital Transformation.

Worldline Chief Executive Gilles Grapinet said in a statement, “With the acquisition of DRWP, we are accelerating the execution of our strategy in Merchant Services and significantly increasing both our internet payment capabilities and our global reach to support international merchants and large retailers.”

Worldline aims to control the experienced and recognized management of DRWP as well as strong balancing technologies and a shared commitment to service between the two companies.

Expected Benefits of the Acquisition

The combination  will power the product functionalities of DRWP in the 22 countries where the Worldline runs, motivating important revenue and technological synergies, and will let Worldline to attain its initial operational positions in Sweden, the U.S and Brazil. Similarly, the enhancement of DRWP will power the commercial cooperation structure prevailing between Worldline and its parent Atos.

Through Worldline, Atos will contact a high quality client base, composed of leading internet merchants and brands. Moreover, Digital River Inc., will pursue as an essential strategic partnership for DRWP, as the parties will come into a commercial agreement for five years upon closing.

The clients of Worldline will benefit from accessing with various acquiring partners globally and from a very wide range of local and international payment way through the worldwide contract and gathering of funds.

Worldline hopes to increase revenue growth of its Merchant Services division by combining DRWP’s wide expertise and exceptional platform in online technology solutions to form a distinctive set of solutions and distribution.

Through this combination, Worldline will considerably increase the development roadmap of SIPS gateway, particularly by incorporating multi-acquiring and collecting functionalities, and anticipates material capital expenditure collaborations.

The transaction is projected to close on or before the end of the third quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, U.S. credit card processor Vantiv agreed to buy Britain’s Worldpay, just this month, for 7.7 billion pounds, or $10 billion, in a decision expected to generate further deals.

Last Friday, Worldline SA traded 0.55%, or 0.19, to 33.90 euro, by 5:35 PM GMT+2. It opened in 33.90 euro, with a session high of 34.28 euro, and a session low of 33.62 euro. Its market capitalization was 4.48 billion and its P/E ratio was 31.13.

Want to get updated on the latest news about the stock market? Subscribe now at Trade12. We will let you know the latest happenings about forex, commodities and economies.