Bnl, this is how Bnp sells Axepta to the French Worldline
The French fintech company Worldline has bought 80% of Axepta di Bnl (Bnp Paribas group). Unions against the sale of company branches: will the protests continue?
After the press leaks at the end of 2020, Bnp Paribas sold Axepta, Bnl's digital payments business.
Today Worldline, a French company operating globally in the payments industry, announced the signing of an agreement for the purchase of 80% of Axepta, the Italian merchant acquiring business of Bnl (Bnp Paribas group), on the basis of a enterprise value of 220 million euros. A note reports it.
The digital payment service of Bnp Paribas is one of the largest in Italy and is active in the transition to cashless and the digitalization of businesses.
The agreement will give Worldline the opportunity to expand into the Italian payments market where growth opportunities are significant given the important role that liquidity still plays.
The French company will pay out around 180 million euros for the stake, with BNL retaining a 20% stake in Axepta. Worldline expects the deal to add an annual turnover of around € 50 million once completed, with double-digit average growth expected over the next 4 years.
Closing is expected between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022.
The move confirms the phase of rapid consolidation of the payments sector in Europe. In fact, we recall that at the beginning of February there was the go-ahead for the merger of Sia into Nexi, an Italian company that offers services and infrastructures for digital payment. The two companies, in fact, after the approval of the board of directors of CDP, CDP Equity and Mercury UK, have signed the definitive agreement for the financial marriage.
Previously, Worldline SA had agreed to buy the French rival Ingenico Group SA for € 7.8 billion to form one of the largest payment service providers.
All the details.
WHAT IS AXEPTA
Axepta spa is a company belonging to the Bnl banking group. With a share capital of € 6,773,000, the company is 90% controlled by Bnl Spa and 10% by Bnl Finance Spa.
The company is subject to direct management and coordination by Bnl Spa and indirectly by the French group Bnp Paribas Sa.
WHAT DOES HE DO
Axepta manages 200 million transactions annually with approximately 220,000 POS. In addition to POS terminals, Axepta also provides consultancy for e-Commerce. The company has a portfolio of approximately 30,000 customers (of which more than 60% are small and medium-sized businesses).
It has about 100 employees in Italy. Led by Stefano Calderano, Vincenzo Cuzzone chairs the board of directors. Marco Tarantola, deputy general manager of Bnl, also make up the board of directors; Carlo Bovero; Saverio Ferraro; Marta Feltrin and Mariaelena Gasparroni.
THE PROFIT IN SPEED
In the transaction with Worldline, Axepta was therefore valued at over 200 million euros. The company recorded a profit of € 1,294,707.78 in 2020 (compared to € 4,354,750 in 2019).
THE OBJECTIVE OF THE OPERATION
The commercial partnership envisages that Bnl distributes Worldline and Axepta payment products and services through its network. At the same time it will allow the customers of the Italian institute to have products and services with the highest standards thanks to the size and innovative capacity of the new partner.
THE WORLDLINE STRATEGY
"The partnership with Bnl through the acquisition of 80% of Axepta Italia is a further and significant step in the development of our group's consolidation strategy in Europe, which allows us to extend our Merchant Services activities to southern Europe" he said. declared Gilles Grapinet, president and CEO of Worldline. “Thanks to this operation, we acquire direct access to a portfolio of customers in the Italian market, characterized by a significant development of electronic payments. This transaction offers interesting growth opportunities for Worldline in the coming years and a significant dimension to extend our activities in Italy ”.
TARANTOLA (BNL): "WITH WORLDLINE HIGH QUALITY STANDARDS FOR AXEPTA"
"Through this partnership, Bnl aims to continue the specialization path started with Axepta in recent years after having acquired 100% of the JV Bnl Positivity in 2016, which was born in the past with another player in the sector" commented Marco Tarantola, deputy general manager of Bnl. “The size of Worldline, together with its expertise in the sector, ensures a high standard of service level, quality and performance of its payment solutions. This will allow us to offer our customers a wide range of products, services and payment solutions, constantly evolving thanks to innovation and the best use of new technologies ".
UNION TENSIONS CONTINUE FOR BNL BETWEEN TRADE UNIONS AND BNP PARIBAS GROUP
Finally, the unions are in a state of agitation after journalistic indiscretions that speak of spin-offs, restructuring and sales of company branches for Bnl, as reported by Start .
There is alarm among BNL employees for fears of a possible dismemberment of the company envisaged in the restructuring plan for the institute controlled by the French group Bnp Paribas.
Overall, around 800 workers would be involved, with activities that could be the subject of an outsourcing operation.
“The National Secretariats are also alerted to the ventured plans for the sale of strategic assets and personnel of the BNL, as no one is unaware of the gravity of what is happening”. This was stated at the beginning of the week by Tommaso Vigliotti, National Secretary of UNISIN / Confsal and Secretary Responsible for the BNL Group, commenting on the rumors circulated in recent days and not denied by the Bank and the vehement reactions of the company unions who have interrupted trade union relations and ask loud clear words from the CEO Elena Patrizia Goitini.
THE UNITARY NOTE OF THE TRADE UNIONS AFTER THE SALE OF AXEPTA
“While the trade unions await the meeting with the managing director. and answers about the feared and strongly opposed transfers of activities and personnel, the official nature of one of the measures that has been rumored for some time in the company's sieving corridors arrives like a bomb: the sale of 80% of Axepta! ", this is what Fabi, First, Fisac, Uilca and Unisin write who "strongly contest and condemn this short-sighted and short-sighted choice which, in addition to expelling all over 110 workers of Axepta from the perimeter of the Group, contrary to what was declared by the Deputy General Manager of BNL Marco Tarantola, does not bring any added value on a strategic level to the positioning of the BNL / BNPP Group, which is self-extracting from a strategic and constantly growing and evolving sector such as that of digital payment means, where Axepta plays a role relevant ".
According to the trade unions, the next industrial plan looks like a real tsunami on the destinies of the workers of the Group and on the future of our Bank: "The success of Axepta, as well as that of BNL, in recent years has been guaranteed by the spirit of sacrifice and professionalism of the people who work there, despite the managerial choices – now we must be convinced – today more than yesterday they continue to try to bury this group! The Syndicate, which refused to meet the architect of this operation and to hear "stories" from the same Tarantula on the supposed goodness of such operations, condemns this choice, rejects this strategic line and will continue to express its opposition in all forms and by all means ".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/bnl-ecco-come-bnp-vende-axepta-alla-francese-worldline/ on Thu, 01 Jul 2021 13:18:36 +0000.