SafeCharge announces 3V Transaction Services acquisition

The company has entered definitive agreements to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of 3V, for a consideration of EUR 14.5 million, of which EUR 11.6 million is payable on completion with the balance payable over three years. The acquisition is expected to complete in January 2015.

Rationale for acquisition:

• 3V will be the foundation of SafeCharges new issuing services division. The acquisition will accelerate the groups entry into pre-paid card issuance, gift cards, vouchers and mobile payments and allow the group to retain full control over the operations of this new business vertical
• Pre-paid cards are one of the fastest growing payment types in Europe, with market growth estimated at around 21% per annum
• 3V expands SafeCharges B2B product offering, adding a card issuance platform and alternate acquiring solutions
• 3V enables SafeCharge to leverage its issuing status with MasterCard, digital wallet and the PAY.com brand
• The acquisition enables cross-selling opportunities in multiple countries

Established in 2004, 3V is a technology provider which specialises in tools for the issuing, processing and management of pre-paid card programmes. The company has developed proprietary systems that support both physical card programmes and mobile-based open loop virtual cards, gift cards and virtual vouchers for card not present transactions.

3Vs issuing technologies have been deployed in numerous countries, including Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. It has managed pre-paid programmes for customers such as Visa Europe and mobile network operators O2/Telefonica, Orange and DNA. These programmes include a virtual ticketing solution built for the 2012 Olympics for Visa Europe, O2 Money in Ireland, Orange Cash in Spain and gift cards which can be found in leading UK supermarkets.