Worldline acquires Italy's Banco Desio merchant-acquiring arm

The acquisition deal reportedly amounted to about EUR 100 million (USD 99.4 million). Worldline officials said the Banco Desio deal was expected to close in the first quarter of 2023 and would bring in extra revenue of around EUR 15 million within the first year.

Banco Desio Group is an Italian banking group with a strong local approach, according to the official press release. Banco Desio’s services are delivered through a network of more than 230 branches. The banking group was looking for a partner to acquire, operate, and develop its merchant acquiring portfolio, which delivers payment solutions to around 15,000 merchants generating circa 40 million transactions per year, representing EUR 2.0 billion of MSV. The banking group also manages the marketing and distribution of more than 19 thousand POS to the merchants within the bank’s network.

As part of the transaction, Worldline plans to enter a long-term commercial partnership with Banco Desio aiming to leverage its banking network as a commercial channel in order to distribute Worldline’s payment services to merchants.

Worldline expansion into italy

Worldline CEO Gilles Grapinet has explained to Reuters reporters that the operation is fully in line with the company’s strategy to further expand its merchant services activities towards the south of Europe and in particular in Italy.

Worldline intends to continue leveraging their footprint built in 2021 through the acquisition of Axepta Italy early 2022 and the set-up of the Worldline MS Italy joint venture.

Similarly, Worldline started expanding its merchant services footprint in the Italian market With Axepta. At the time, Worldline bet on Italy’s growth being driven by the steady adoption of electronic payments, as explained by company officials. Axepta Italy is an acquirer, with 200 million acquiring transactions per year (5% market share in MSV) from a 220,000 POS acceptance network.

European scale-up through M&A

Recently, in October 2022, Worldline has closed the acquisition of a 55% stake in SoftPos.eu, a Poland-based payments terminal provider. 

The fintech converts regular Android devices into secure payment terminals, enabling merchants to accept card payments without the need for additional hardware. Based on SoftPos.eu, Worldline also launched a new product internationally: Worldline Tap on Mobile.

Earlier in September 2022, Worldline agreed to acquire 40% stake in Netherlands-based PSP, Online Payment Platform. 

The partnership with Worldline enabled OPP’s expansion within the former’s core European markets and allows it to capture the market opportunity of marketplaces and platforms. For Wordline, the transaction added to its expansion profile and allowed collaboration between both parties involved through its sale infrastructure.