Global Payments Inc. on Nov. 18 announced a joint venture with Spain-based bank La Caixa, adding access to more than 150,000 merchants in Spain for the Atlanta-based payment processor.
The bank is contributing its existing merchant-acquiring business to the joint venture.
Global Payments says it will pay $170.5 million (125 million euros) for a 51% ownership in the joint venture; the bank will retain a 49% share. Profits will be split similarly, Joseph Hyde, Global Payments president of international business, tells PaymentsSource.
The companies expect to close the deal by the Feb. 28, the end of Global Payments’ fiscal third quarter.
La Caixa expects it merchant-acquiring business to generate $81.8 million in revenue in 2010, Global Payments says.
The deal also calls for a 20-year marketing alliance, in which La Caixa will refer merchants to the joint venture, Global Payments says.
The deal marks Global Payments’ initial foray into Spain’s merchant-acquiring business, Hyde says. La Caixa is “the largest merchant acquirer in Spain and one of the largest in Europe,” he says. “This partner is a perfect fit for our expansion strategy worldwide and in Western Europe.”
Global Payments will announce the joint venture’s name, incorporating the La Caixa brand, when the deal closes, Hyde notes.
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