MasterCard acquires European electronic services company NETS clearing and payment business for 2.85 billion Euros

On Aug. 6, Mastercard said it would buy NETS ‘corporate services business for 2.85 billion Euros.

MasterCard on Tuesday announced a 2.85 billion euro ($3.19 billion) acquisition of the corporate services business of NETS, Europe’s leading electronic services company, further boosting its push into the Nordic market.

The deal is the company’s largest-ever acquisition and is intended to help it further drive faster payments.

The acquisition includes clearing and instant payment services, as well as e-billing solutions for THE NETS Enterprise Services business.

Mastercard said in a statement on Tuesday that the acquisition would give it an electronic billing platform, clearing and instant payment services. The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of next year, and earnings will be hurt two years after the deal closes, it disclosed.

While mergers and acquisitions activity in other sectors has stalled amid concerns about trade tensions and a global economic slowdown, the growth of the payment system has allowed deals to continue.

Now, businesses and governments around the world have been pushing real-time payment systems to speed up the flow of money between consumers and businesses, forcing a competition between Banks and payment networks for those flows.

MasterCard said the acquisition would add Send and Transfast technologies to MasterCard, which could provide cross-border payments for bank accounts, mobile wallets and cards.



McKinsey, a consultancy, expects global payments revenues to reach $3 trillion a year by 2023, as the fintech industry consolidates rapidly as more people switch from cash to digital payments.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2020, and mastercard expects the dilution to last up to two years after the deal closes.

It is also understood that earlier this year, MasterCard announced the acquisition of Ethoca, a company that helps merchants identify fraud, and Vyze, a sales terminal payment provider. It also acquired Transactis, which helps pay bills, and Transfast, a cross-border payment network.