Worldline to buy Banco Desio merchant acquiring in Italy

By Gloria Methri

French payments giant Worldline is aiming to boost its presence in Italy with the acquisition of Banco Desio’s merchant acquiring activities for around €100 million.

The company is also setting up a commercial partnership the Italian bank, to leverage its network to distribute Worldline’s payment products and services to merchants in Italy.

Banco Desio’s merchant acquiring portfolio delivers payment solutions to around 15,000 companies, generating about 40 million transactions per year. The deal builds on Worldline’s earlier acquisition of Axepta Italy and the set-up of the Worldline MS Italy joint venture.

Gilles Grapinet, CEO of Worldline, said, “This operation is fully in line with our strategy to further expand our Merchant Services activities towards the South of Europe and in Italy, a highly attractive and strategic market for Worldline. We intend to continue leveraging our footprint built last year through the acquisition of Axepta Italyand the set-up of the Worldline MS Italy joint venture.”

Reinforcement of Worldline presence in Italy

The latest acquisition announcement is in line with Worldline’s strategy to reinforce its presence in Italy, a highly attractive and strategic market. The country is the third largest euro economy in Europe with a cash penetration accounting for close to 76% of total payment volume in 2021.

As an additional characteristic, Luxury and Retail market is one of the most important sectors of the Italian economy and a key pillar of its economic growth. In addition, with close to 100 million tourists per year, Italy is one of the most visited countries in Europe and in the world.

The factors represent a very attractive feature of the Italian payment market offering numerous additional growth opportunities in a post-Covid context by leveraging the Worldline portfolio of Luxury & Retail and Travel & Hospitality solutions.