SIA S.p.A.

History

2020: Consolidation with Nexi payment system

At the beginning of October, 2020 it became known of merge of the Italian payment systems Nexi and SIA. The united company will become one of the largest payment operators in the EU, its market capitalization, according to the experts, reaches 15 billion euros.

According to the message Bloomberg, the cost of the transaction which closing is expected in the summer of 2021 is 4.56 billion euros. Shareholders of Nexi company will receive 70% of the united company, at the same time to her direct investors, i.e. the companies Bain Capital, Clessidra Advent, 23% of the created company will belong.

The Italian payment systems Nexi and SIA integrated in the company worth €15 billion

Consolidation with SIA should create considerable value for shareholders, - analysts of Kepler Cheuvreux addressed investors. - Looks quite strategically, and the transaction should bring, at last, more synergy, than it was expected initially.

It is known that negotiations on merge of the Italian payment systems continued within more than 1.5 years. According to a source, the companies could not agree upon an occasion of assessment of SIA and management of joint structure. Investment banks Medibance acted as consultants of Nexia company, HSBC and also Bank of America, the interests of SIA are represented JPMorgan also by Rothschild.

Activity of Nexi company first of all is focused on the market of Italy, SIA gains a third of the income from foreign countries. The created enterprise will manage about 120 million cards and to process payments for more than 2 million outlets. According to statements of the companies, the new enterprise will process over 21 million transactions annually.

According to the informed people, Nexi aims at further expansion to become the largest payment service provider in Europe. According to them, the Italian company conducts negotiations with the Danish company Nets A/S.

According to the statement, the CEO of Nexi Paolo Bertoluzzo will head new Italian group, and the head of SIA Nikola Kordone will remain in the company before closing of the transaction.^[1]

Notes