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Worldline Picks Banks to Sell $3.5 Billion Terminals Unit

Worldline Picks Banks to Sell $3.5 Billion Terminals Unit

Worldline SA has picked banks to work on a potential sale of its payments terminal operations following the 7.8 billion-euro ($9.2 billion) takeover of Ingenico Group SA, people familiar with the matter said.

The French payments provider has selected UBS Group AG and BNP Paribas SA to advise on strategic options for the business, according to the people. It plans to seek a valuation of about 3 billion euros in any sale, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Worldline confirmed Thursday it’s now launching a strategic review of its payment terminal business, as it seeks to move from providing bundled hardware and services to a “software-as-a-service” business model. It expects to complete the review in 2021, according to the press release posted on its website. Representatives for BNP and UBS declined to comment.

Shares of Worldline rose 1.8% at 10:18 a.m. in Paris, giving the company a market value of 17.3 billion euros.

Consolidation Wave

The business under review includes Ingenico’s Banks & Acquirers division, as well as some smaller Worldline operations, the people said. The unit is likely to attract bids from rival payments firms and private equity funds, the people said. Worldline could also sell only part of the business or form a joint venture with a partner, the people said.

No final decisions have been made, and Worldline could still opt to keep the unit, the people said.

Worldline agreed to buy rival Ingenico in February to create one of the largest payment-services providers. The companies got conditional European Union approval for the merger in September after promising to sell parts of their point-of-sale business.

Ingenico’s Banks & Acquirers division had about 1.45 billion euros of revenue last year. It reported 305 million euros of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. The business does business in 170 countries and gets about 39% of its sales from Asia Pacific and the Middle East, according to Ingenico’s annual report.

The payments industry has been undergoing a a wave of consolidation as companies seek to take advantage of a surge in transactions. Fiserv Inc. agreed to take over First Data Corp. last year in a deal valued at $22 billion when it was announced. Italy’s Nexi SpA reached a deal this month to buy SIA SpA to create one of Europe’s biggest payment providers.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.