MILAN, April 26 (Reuters) - Italian investment fund FSI
has signed a framework agreement for an investment of up to 100
million euros ($110 million) in debit card and cash machine
operator BANCOMAT.
The two groups said in a joint statement on Wednesday that
FSI would take a minority stake by buying into a reserved
capital increase. They did not disclose the exact stake.
BANCOMAT is currently owned by a total of 113 Italian banks
with the country's biggest lender Intesa Sanpaolo among
its leading shareholders.
Under a new business plan, BANCOMAT aims to offer a wider
range of services and products to its clients, building a new
platform and completing targeted acquisitions, the statement
said.
BANCOMAT, which manages payments under the PagoBANCOMAT and
BANCOMAT Pay brands, handles more than 2.8 billion payment and
withdrawal transactions a year for a turnover of about 225
billion euros in total.
The payments sector has been swept up in a wave of mergers
and acquisitions as it seeks the financial muscle to keep up
with technological advances while contending with the threat
from new entrants.
The accord comes after FSI last year signed a preliminary
deal for an investment in BANCOMAT. ($1 = 0.9059 euros)
(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin; editing by Valentina Za)
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