NOVEMBER 14 2011
Nordic Capital Fund V ("Nordic Capital") today announced a definitive agreement to sell Point International ("Point") to VeriFone Systems, Inc. ("VeriFone").
Since Nordic Capital acquired Point in 2004, the company has been expanded to become Europe's leading provider of electronic payment solutions serving with over 475,000 individual merchant contracts across Europe. The 125 software developers at Point have built proprietary multi-country payment software which is seamlessly used for physical electronic payments and internet payments, which is unique in Europe.
"Under Nordic Capital's ownership, Point has had fantastic growth, with sales close to five times higher than at the time of acquisition and taken the position as the leader in advanced payment services in Europe. Nordic Capital has supported the management to make significant R&D investments and do strategic add-on acquisitions, creating value and sustainable growth opportunities, and thereby ensuring that Point remains a European leader in a field that has a tremendous growth potential", said Fredrik Näslund, Partner, NC Advisory AB, advisor to the Nordic Capital Funds.
The outstanding growth of Point has been driven by a defined strategy for market leadership through investments:
• Invested in the Point router Network in order to allow merchants to enjoy "Payment as a Service", which has been a success due to increasing demands from the regulatory side as well as increasing functional requirements from merchants on multi channel solutions and added value services.
• Changed the business model to a recurring revenue model based on subscriptions, enabled by the investments into the Point Network
• Leveraged Point's strong technological know-how to strengthen its position within the Nordic region and to expand into selected European countries
• Developed industry and country specific applications to increase differentiation
Through the acquisition by VeriFone, Point gains access to all the capabilities of a global market leader, while VeriFone gains the opportunity to take advantage of
Point's strong position in local markets and the expertise on the services side. Point is the only full-service providers of payment solutions with a European reach. The offering consists of card present, card not present, 'Multi-channel' and 'Cross-channel' solutions. In addition, Point also offers gateways that connect to more than
50 acquirers, and deliver value added services in the form of advanced reporting and handling of loyalty cards and prepaid cards.
"As part of the VeriFone group, Point will have a strong owner with a long-term perspective who fully understands our business", says Johan Tjärnberg, CEO Point
International. "Together we will strengthen our customer solutions, expand the reach of our organization and accelerate the development of our company".
Nordic Capital was advised by J.P. Morgan, SEB Enskilda and White & Case.
For further information, please contact:
Johan Tjärnberg, Group CEO, Point International
Tel.: +46 8 566 287 00
Email: johan.tjarnberg@point.se
Mikael Widell, Communications Manager, NC Advisory AB
Mobile: +46 703 11 99 60
Email: mikael.widell@nordiccapital.com
About Point
Point is the leading provider of multichannel electronic payment solutions in Europe focusing on payment services to merchants. Point installations handle 10 million transactions per day, and the Point Group provides service to approximately 630,000 payment terminals. Customers include some of the largest retail companies in Europe, as well as small independent stores and online merchants. Point has more than 800 employees and a local presence in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and the UK. For more information, please visit www.pointinternational.com.
About VeriFone Systems, Inc.
VeriFone Systems, Inc. (VeriFone) (NYSE: PAY) is the global leader in secure electronic payment solutions. VeriFone provides expertise, solutions and services that add value to the point of sale with merchant-operated, consumer-facing and self-service payment systems for the financial, retail, hospitality, petroleum, government and healthcare vertical markets. VeriFone solutions are designed to meet the needs of merchants, processors and acquirers in developed and emerging economies worldwide. For more information about VeriFone, visit www.verifone.com.