LOS ANGELES Oberthur Card Systems, a smart card technology company, said it has acquired Logica Impresora SA, the top manufacturer of banking cards in Spain and No. 9 worldwide in the shipment of Visa and MasterCard cards.
Oberthur said the $9.06 million deal strengthens its market position in Spain, where banks are aiming to replace magnetic stripe cards with chip cards by 2003. Spain, along with the rest of Europe, is moving to embrace the EMV standard (Europay/MasterCard/Visa) for smart card technology.
The Spanish payment card market is an important market, and this acquisition strengthens our reputation as the leader in EMV migration, said Xavier Drilhon, managing director for Oberthurs Southern Europe/Middle East/Africa region and Latin American region.
In buying Logica Impresora, which has two plants and 70 employees, Oberthur now has 19 production sites across the five continents.
