Apollo Could Acquire POS Firm Worldline for $2B

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc. is set to acquire the point-of-sale terminal operations of European payments company Worldline for $2.3 billion.

As the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing sources close to the deal, the acquisition could be announced in the coming days, and would see Apollo acquire hardware that lets consumers make purchases using their mobile phones and payment cards.

The report says Worldline has been aiming to glean more revenue from cloud-based payments services, along with its hardware and software terminal business. In 2020, it began a strategic review of its business that included considering a possible sale, with Apollo among the front-runners on the list of buyers.

Worldline’s terminal business is the provider of point-of-sale terminals technology in Europe, according to Nilson Report. In the U.S., it comes in just behind VeriFone, Inc.

Equipment prices are facing rising competition from rivals from Asia such as Newland Payment Technology Co. and Pax Global Technology Ltd., analysts and investors told the Journal.

However, Apollo’s acquisition could pay off if Worldline’s business sees a resurgence when shoppers come back to stores. COVID-19 has hindered the performance of terminal businesses, which was Worldline’s slowest-growing division in 2021’s second quarter, the last time the firm released revenue figures from that unit.

Read more: Worldline Signs Acquisition Deal With Eurobank Merchant Acquiring

Last year, Worldline acquired 80% of Eurobank Merchant Acquiring, which has a 20% share of the Greek acquisition market.

“This operation is fully in line with our strategy to further expand our Merchant Services activities towards the south of Europe, and at the same time allows us to leverage our footprint in Greece that was established earlier this year through the acquisition of Cardlink,” said Gilles Grapinet, CEO of Worldline, at the time.

See also: Europe’s Worldline Joins Spreedly’s PSP Partnership Program

Last month, the company announced it was joining Spreedly’s Payment Service Provider Program, created to help foster a more inclusive payments ecosystem and make customer acquisition faster and bolster revenue growth for participants.