Nets A/S: Nets to acquire the merchant acquiring business from OP Financial Group in Finland

Nets to acquire the merchant acquiring business from OP Financial Group in Finland

Nets has today signed an agreement to acquire OP's merchant acquiring business, which consists of approximately 15,000 merchant contracts with an underlying annual card turnover of around DKK 37 billion from Visa and MasterCard transactions in Finland. Already an established merchant acquirer in Finland, Nets will hereby further consolidate our position in the Merchant Services segment.

Strategic partnership
Nets and OP will, as part of the transaction, enter into a 10-year strategic partnership agreement, which includes a referral arrangement for merchant acquiring and point-of-sale services covering Finland and the Baltic region. The partnership will provide OP's customers with a wider range of merchant payment solutions, while Nets will benefit from OP's strong brand recognition and distribution to merchants in Finland. The services will be operated under the Nets brand.  

Nets has provided merchant acquiring processing services to OP for many years and therefore the transfer of the business will be seamless and frictionless for the customers.

Bo Nilsson, CEO of Nets, said:
This is an important acquisition for our Merchant Services business. We are excited to further build on the close co-operation between Nets and OP and we look forward to working together with OP to provide great payment services to their banking customers. The 10-year strategic partnership agreement shows a strong commitment from the parties, and we at Nets will continuously add innovations to this important area

Jouko Pölönen, Executive Vice President, Head of Banking at OP Financial Group, said:
By selling the merchant acquiring business to Nets, we ensure that we can offer our banking customers a competitive product offering in the long term. Merchant acquiring is an increasing specialist area that requires scale and investment in order to stay ahead of the market. Nets is a leading merchant acquirer in the Nordic region with a strong presence in Finland, and we are confident that Nets will continue to be the right partner for OP and our customers

Transaction overview and financial impact
Nets will acquire OP's merchant acquiring business through our subsidiary Nets Oy for an expected total consideration of DKK 224 million, which consists of an initial cash consideration of DKK 179 million and an expected deferred payment on a discounted basis of around DKK 45 million, dependent on how the acquired business develops over the contract period. The acquisition is structured as an asset deal primarily consisting of merchant contracts in Finland. The acquisition does not include any transfer of employees from OP.

There are no conditions for closing of the transaction, which is expected by the end of Q2 2017.

Nets' capital allocation principles prioritise investments in organic growth and bolt-on acquisitions. The acquisition will be funded by Nets' own cash and existing credit facilities. The information in this Company Announcement does not change the guidance for 2017.

About the acquired business
OP's merchant acquiring business consists of approximately 15,000 merchant contracts in Finland. The merchant contracts are distributed across large account and key account customers as well as small- and medium-sized businesses.

About OP Financial Group
OP Financial Group is Finland's largest financial services group, consisting of about 170 member cooperative banks, its central cooperative OP Cooperative and the latter's subsidiaries and affiliates. The Group has a staff of 12,000 and some 1.7 million owner-customers and 4.3 million customers.

For further information

For media enquiries:
Karsten Anker Petersen, Head of Communications, at +45 44 89 78 83 or kapet@nets.eu

For investor enquiries:
Lars Oestmoe, Head of M&A and IR, at +47 91 34 71 77 or lostm@nets.eu

Forward-looking statements
This report contains forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, as various factors, many of which are beyond the control of Nets A/S, may cause actual developments and results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in this report.

Information on Nets
Nets is a leading provider of digital payment services and related technology solutions across the Nordic region. Nets sits at the centre of the digital payments ecosystem and operates a deeply entrenched network, which connects merchants, corporate customers, financial institutions and consumers enabling them to make and receive payments as well as, increasingly, utilise value-added services to help them improve their respective activities.

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Nets A/S via Globenewswire

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