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Gemalto N.V. has increased its investment in Serverside Group, a company based in London that provides custom card-personalization software to card issuers, the Amsterdam-based digital-security company and smart card supplier announced today. The capital increase investment, which gives Gemalto a 50.1% controlling stake in Serverside, includes an option to potentially acquire Serverside within the next three to five years, Paul Beverly, president of Gemalto North America, tells CardLine. Gemalto also says it has entered into a worldwide distribution agreement with Serverside, which will enable Gemalto's sales force to offer Serverside's product. "With our global footprint and our relationship with banks around the world, we can really provide some additional resources to promote this service," Beverly says, adding that Gemalto particularly likes Serverside's hosted service because it enables bank clients to go to one central server to update and make changes in their customer offerings instead of requiring the clients to update software at their individual locations. The companies did not disclose terms of the transaction. Several major financial institutions already use Serverside's AllAboutMe card-personalization platform, including Australia-based ANZ Banking Group Ltd., United Kingdom-based RBS Group and U.S.-based First National Bank of Omaha.
