According to the company's officials, the acquisition of Cardlink comes to expand Worldline merchant services activities towards the South of Europe. With a cash penetration that remains high and a card transaction rate per capita more than twice below European countries average, the Greek market shows attractive growth opportunities with a growing addressable market driven by the shift from cash to card and electronic payment adoption.
Founded in 2004, Cardlink is a Greek Network Services Provider (NSP) with an above 240,000 POS fleet (46% of POS transactions), managing c. 500 million of transactions a year (53% MSV market share). The company also provides more than 10,000 online merchants with strong value-added services through the Cardlink check-out offering.
Overall, the acquisition represents a opportunity for Worldline to strongly expand its merchant services activities in this attractive European market. Worldline intends to further develop the longstanding partnerships of Cardlink with key local acquiring banks which are benefitting from its leading POS acceptance capabilities, its direct access to an existing and high-quality merchants’ portfolio, while generating significant growth opportunities fueled by increasing card penetration and online capabilities.
Furthermore, a robust integration and development programme will be implemented at closing to further improve profitability rate through operating leverage and costs efficiency.
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