Intesa Sanpaolo announces that it has strengthened its partnership with Nexi, an international firm focused on merchant acquiring, in order “to expand the areas of collaboration.”
The latest agreement will “enable the development of both partners’ activities in Croatia.”
The agreement, which follows the operations that involved the sale to Nexi by Intesa Sanpaolo and UBI of their respective acquiring activities, foresees:
- the transfer to Nexi of the acquiring business of PBZ Card d.o.o., a Croatian subsidiary of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group that falls within the perimeter of the International Subsidiary Banks Division;
- the expansion of the exclusive long-term partnership related to merchant acquiring, in place as part of the previous transactions, which positions Nexi as the exclusive partner of Intesa Sanpaolo, while the latter maintains its direct customer relationships and distributes Nexi acquiring services.
The Intesa Sanpaolo Group will “receive a gross consideration of €180 million for the sale of the PBZ Card d.o.o. acquiring business.”
Completion of the operation, expected by the end of the year, “is subject to obtaining the usual authorizations from the competent authorities.”
The operation “allows Intesa Sanpaolo to gain enhanced value from the acquiring activity that is carried out internally today, and ensures additional focus on distribution within the International Subsidiary Banks Division.”
Deloitte Financial Advisory “assisted Intesa Sanpaolo as industrial advisor and for financial due diligence activities.”
Studio PwC TLS Avvocati e Commercialisti “acted as legal, regulatory and tax advisor.”
Mediobanca Banca di Credito Finanziario “acted as sole financial advisor.”
Intesa Sanpaolo, which is Italy’s largest bank by total assets and one of Europe’s most profitable and sustainable financial institutions, announced in February 2022 that it had chosen Thought Machine, the United Kingdom-based core banking tech firm, to support its digital banking platform.
In conjunction with this partnership, Intesa Sanpaolo has made a £40 million investment in Thought Machine “to become part of the company’s growth story.”
Intesa Sanpaolo has chosen Thought Machine’s core banking engine, Vault, to power Isybank, its new virtual banking platform announced recently “as part of the group’s 2022-2025 Business Plan.” Isybank will initially target 4 million of Intesa Sanpaolo’s mass-market customers in Italy “with a wide range of digital banking services, while driving a structural cost reduction for the group.”