What will Cdp and Nexi do with Nets
The merger between Nexi, Sia, controlled by CDP, and Nets would give life to a group with 3 billion in turnover and over 1.5 billion Ebitda, present in 30 countries
Nexi, a digital payments group led by Paolo Bertoluzzo, moves on several fronts. On the national front, to grow, Nexi is about to get married with Sia, controlled by the Cdp group for 17%. On the international front, the company is in talks for a merger with the Danish Nets.
From the union of the three realities a colossus with 3 billion in turnover would be born.
All the details.
THE START OF TRADING
Reuters announced last week, with the withdrawal of Global Payments from the race to acquire Nets, Nexi remained the only player in the race.
Now the company headed by Bertoluzzo has started an exclusive negotiation period with the Nets group to reach, in the next 10 days, a possible binding agreement for the merger of the two companies.
NEXI SOLE BUYER
Fusion that everyone seems to be hoping for. In fact, for some time now, the shareholders of Nets, namely the private equity funds Helman Friedman and Bain Capital, have been aiming to enhance their investment.
The negotiations between Nexi and Nets, in fact, have been going on since the beginning of the year.
THE AGREEMENT
The financial marriage will take place entirely through a stock exchange, with long-term lock-up commitments for the current shareholders of Nets, and therefore for Hellman & Friedman, Bain Capital and Advent.
THE NUMBERS OF NETS
The objective of Nexi's merger with Nets is explained by the numbers of the Danish group. Nets closed 2019 with a turnover of one billion euros and an Ebitda of 0.4 billion, it represents, in Europe, one of the largest payment processors, managing, according to Il Sole 24 Ore , over 40 million cards. credit, providing services to over 250 banks and processing transactions for around 700,000 merchants.
Last year, the group concluded a nearly $ 6 billion merger with Germany's Concardis, opening the doors to the markets of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
EQUITA PROMOTES NEXI AND NETS MERGER
The merger between the Italian and the Danish company has also already obtained the blessing of Equita analysts, who in the morning promoted the Nexi share to buy, leaving the target price unchanged at 16.2 euros, according to MF-Milano Finanza . The financial marriage will bring Nexi an Eva (Economic Value Added) of 10% for Equita.
THE OPERATION IS
The merger between Nexi and Nets is part of a much broader expansion project, which sees the group led by Paolo Bertoluzzo also move on the Italian front.
And it is in Italy that Nexi is about to get married with Sia , the Interbank Company for Automation founded by the Bank of Italy, the Italian Banking Association (ABI) and some Italian banks in 1977, with the initial intention of creating the National Interbank Network, i.e. the infrastructure that digitally connects all financial institutions. The company is controlled by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.
TOWARDS A EUROPEAN PAYMENT COLOSSUS
The union of the three realities would give a jolt to the European digital payments sector, with the birth of a giant that would also be superior to the French giant Worldline that has merged with Ingenico.
The union of Nexi, Nets and Sia, writes the Sun , will give life to a group with 3 billion in turnover and over 1.5 billion Ebitda, present in almost 30 countries with leadership positions in at least fifteen, including Germany and Northern Europe.
The estimated industrial synergies between Nexi and Nets may amount to approximately 150 million, a similar figure for the synergies in addition to the announced transaction with Sia.
THE COMPANY STRUCTURE OF THE NEW REALITY
What would the corporate structure be? Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, now a shareholder of Sia, with approximately 17%, would play a leading role with a majority stake. The share of the Hellman & Friedman funds, shareholders of Nets, and of Bain Capital and Advent, shareholders of both Nexi and Nets, will be slightly lower. At lower stakes there will then be Clessidra and Intesa Sanpaolo, shareholders of Nexi, and BancoBpm and Poste, shareholders of Sia.
THE GOVERNANCE OF THE NEW TRIANGLE
The Governance of the new reality should also be decided by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/fintech/che-cosa-faranno-cdp-e-nexi-con-nets/ on Tue, 03 Nov 2020 07:10:53 +0000.