A PYMNTS Company

UK: CMA clears PayPal/iZettle $2b deal

By  |  June 12, 2019

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) gave its final approval to PayPal’s acquisition of point of sale terminal company iZettle, nine-and-a-half months after the deal formally closed.

    Get the Full Story

    Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required.

    yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today.

    By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

    Although the US$2 billion deal had already been completed, PayPal continued to work with UK authorities on their investigation and kept the business separate from the rest of its portfolio while the decision was pending.

    The authority was assessing the impact of the deal on small- and medium-sized businesses in the UK.

    In April, the CMA released provisional findings suggesting the deal would be cleared, but continued to investigate evidence collated since the start of its in-depth probe into the transaction, a process that started in November 2018.

    Clearing the deal, the CMA stated, “While iZettle and PayPal are two of the largest suppliers of mobile mPoS [mobile point of sale] devices, their customers are also willing to switch to traditional PoS devices. The two largest suppliers of payment services to smaller merchants, Worldpay and Barclaycard, account for almost 60 per cent of the market at present and will continue to constrain the merged company.”

    “The merged company will also face significant competition from other mPoS-only players, such as Square and SumUp, which have both grown significantly in recent years,” it added.

    Full Content: Gov UK

    Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.