Wirecard acquires Romanian payment provider

With a total of 114 employees, Provus is a Romanian payment processing and technological service provider supporting companies in outsourcing acquiring and card processing, ecommerce payment transactions and point-of-sale (POS) operations.

Its customer base includes Romanian banks in addition to significant telecommunications and retail players. In addition, Provus has worked with the Romanian government in the digitisation of health and payment cards. The Romanian market is an EU member state with a population of 20 million. The country can boast the highest growth rate for card payments in Europe. The shift from cash to electronic payment transactions is also a growth trend in Romania. Currently, 97% of all payments are made in cash.

Provus operates Romania’s largest processing centre and, on account of a scalable platform which features innovative technology, is a notable outsourcing solution in Eastern Europe. Above all, the company’s end-to-end solutions in the field of card management, including a card personalisation office, has been seen as a paint of reference for the local banks and government institutions. In the business area of acquiring processing, Provus offers payment transaction options across various channels: ATMs, POS and ecommerce.

Roland Toch, MD Wirecard CEE: “This acquisition will allow Wirecard to systematically step up its expansion into Eastern Europe. The business model compliments our global payment gateway as well as our European acquiring and issuing licence.”

The compensation owed within the scope of this transaction are cash payments in the amount of EUR 32 million, without further earnout payments. An EBITDA of EUR 4 million is expected for calendar year 2016. In addition, non-recurring integration costs of approximately EUR 0,5 million will be incurred in 2016. The vendors are a Polish private equity fund - Innova Capital. The current management team will remain in place.

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