The French company Worldline, European market leader in the payment services sector, has entered into exclusive negotiations with the investment funds managed by Apollo to acquire its payment terminal activity, inherited from Ingenico.
Apollo would be ready to invest 2.3 billion euros in this operation. The closing of the transaction is expected during the second half of 2022, subject to the approval of regulators and authorities, Worldline said in a press release.
The exclusive negotiations are based on a firm offer to purchase the Terminals, Solutions and Services (TSS) activities for a price comprising an amount of 1.7 billion euros, as well as preference shares. These may reach a maximum amount of 0.9 billion euros, based on the future value creation of TSS.
Worldline explains that it chose Apollo “because of the quality of its offer, the relevance of its industrial and strategic project, its support for the management of TSS and its sensitivity to the French social context”. In addition, Apollo has a “quality track-record in terms of value creation and asset takeover of large companies with successful transformations on its previous investments in France”, adds Worldline.
Worldline had acquired Ingenico in 2020
“I am very pleased to announce today the signing of an exclusive negotiation agreement with Apollo, a recognized and high quality global investment company, in order to take charge of the future development of our payment terminal activities as well as than its teams,” said Gilles Grapinet, CEO of Worldline, quoted in the press release.
“As announced during the acquisition of Ingenico in February 2020, we have initiated a strategic review of the payment terminal activities in order to ensure that TSS has the best conditions to execute its ambitious transformation plan”, he adds. . This signature of agreement comes after the validation of the disengagement of TSS by the Board of Directors of Worldline in October 2021.
“We are convinced that Apollo will be able to provide TSS with the best assets, the best expertise and the most suitable support to ensure the continuation of its transformation towards an “as-a-service” business model, thus strengthening plus its long-term success”, emphasizes Gilles Grapinet. For his part, Matthieu Destot, director of the TSS service line, maintains that this operation opens “a new page for TSS as an independent company under the Ingenico brand”.
Following this disposal, Worldline specifies that it anticipates “a prudent and non-cash technical depreciation of approximately 900 million euros, compared to the book value of TSS defined upon completion of the acquisition of Ingenico , before the crisis linked to the rupture of components due to Covid”.