WEX to acquire Go Fuel Card fleet business in European expansion

Fleet card and virtual card technology provider WEX plans to acquire the Go Fuel Card business from fuel station and convenience store retailer EG Card.

Breda, Netherlands-based EG Card is selling its 200,000-card portfolio to WEX for an undisclosed amount. The portfolio is run on an independent proprietary card network with over 5,000 accepting retail locations across the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Business customers covered in the portfolio range in size from small and medium enterprises to large fleet operators.

WEX expects the transaction to close in the second quarter of 2019, pending standard closing conditions and reviews.

“The addition of the Go Fuel Card business will strengthen our position in Europe by expanding our footprint in attractive markets and broadening our card acceptance through an independent, proprietary card network,” stated Scott Phillips, president of Global Fleet at WEX in a press release.

WEX has been actively expanding its geographic coverage outside of the U.S. for both its fleet card and its virtual card businesses. Last October WEX collaborated with Melbourne, Australia-based fintech Payment Logic to support automated vehicle registration for fleet operators in Australia. The effort combined WEX’s virtual payments with Payment Logic’s Robotic Process Automation product, which connects car registration files to a WEX virtual card and enters the registration renewal without manual input.

Additionally, WEX has been actively seeking acquisitions to expand in benefits and corporate payments. WEX completed the acquisition of Noventis in January to boost its corporate payments business. It also signed an agreement in January to acquire Discovery Benefits, an employee benefits administrator to more than one million consumers across all 50 states.