Ingenico Group, a French maker of payment terminals, said it's in exclusive talks to acquire GlobalCollect in a deal valuing the target at 820 million euros ($1.1 billion).
Ingenico plans to finance the purchase of Amsterdam-based GlobalCollect with cash and debt, it said in a statement today. The transaction, which needs antitrust approvals, is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter, it said.
"The acquisition of GlobalCollect would enable us to accelerate the implementation of our strategy across all channels, on a global scale, especially in payment services and mobile payment," IngenicoChief Executive Officer Philippe Lazare said in the statement.
The global money-transfer and payments market is divvied up by operators from eBay Inc.'s PayPal unit to Gemalto NV, which sells software to make transactions more secure. France's Atos Worldline, which sold shares in an initial public offering last month, competes with companies including Nets, Vantiv Inc. and Global Payments Inc.
GlobalCollect reported 2013 gross revenue of 305 million euros and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 50 million euros.
Ingenico last year had sales of 1.37 billion euros and forecast 2016 revenue of more than 1.8 billion euros with an Ebitda margin of more than 20 percent. It will increase that revenue target on a pro forma basis to more than 2.2 billion euros after the acquisition, Ingenico said today.
