Worldline Completes Purchase of 80% Stake in Eurobank Merchant Acquiring

Payments firm Worldline on Thursday (June 30) said it has completed its previously announced acquisition of 80% of Eurobank Merchant Acquiring, which holds a 21% share of Greece’s merchant services business.

Merchant acquiring services, sometimes called just acquiring services, process card payments for businesses, including retailers.

According to the announcement, Eurobank Merchant Acquiring handles 219 million transactions per year with a combined value of $7.3 billion for a network of 123,000 merchants.

The announcement said: “This acquisition represents an opportunity for Worldline to strongly expand its merchant services activities in this dynamic southern European market, still driven by the shift from cash to card with a significant electronic payments adoption rate and online and eCommerce development.”

When the transaction was first made public in December 2021, Worldline Chief Executive Gilles Grapinet said in a prepared statement: “This operation is fully in line with our strategy to further expand our merchant services activities towards the south of Europe, and at the same time allows us to leverage our footprint in Greece that was established earlier this year through the acquisition of Cardlink. The combination of both companies will create a meaningful, comprehensive and leading position in the fast-growing Greek market that is driven by a steady ongoing adoption of electronic payments. This transaction offers attractive development opportunities for Worldline in the coming years.”

See also: Travel Recovery in South Korea Makes Strong Case for Localized Payments

Worldline Global Head of Travel Damien Cramer told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster earlier this month that new markets present hurdles, but they can be overcome with solid execution. He used the example of penetrating markets in Asia.

“The biggest challenge, if I was to make it really basic, is the language and cultural experience difference,” he said. “If you’ve ever branched out and jumped on a native eCommerce website or a native travel website in Indonesia, the product, the way things are presented, and the user experience are quite different to the way that a lot in the West like to see it.”