Spain's largest bank, CaixaBank, has entered a payments joint venture with Global Payments and the Erste Group Bank for transactions in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania.
Global Payments and CaixaBank will pay 30 million in cash to acquire a 51% majority ownership in the venture, the companies said in a July 27 announcement, while the Erste Group will contribute its existing merchant acquiring businesses in each of the three countries and will hold a 49% interest in the venture.
The companies said they expect the transaction to close in the second half of fiscal 2016, subject to the customary regulatory approvals.
"The joint venture will allow us to significantly expand our direct distribution footprint in Europe with leading financial partners, catalyze our capabilities to service multinational customers across the common European payments area and leverage our global product and service offering to Erste Group Bank's merchants," said Global Payments CEO Jeff Sloan. "The partnership positions our European business for accelerated growth at a favorable time in Europe."
