NEXI Nexi S.p.A.

   By Pietro Lombardi 
 

Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP.MI) will buy a 9.9% stake in Italian payment company Nexi SpA (NEXI.MI) for 653 million euros ($726.6 million) as part of a strategic agreement on payment systems between the two companies.

The Italian bank will transfer its business segment dealing with acquiring activities to Nexi, with the two companies establishing a long-term partnership. Under the agreement, Nexi will be Intesa's only partner in acquiring activities, the bank said Thursday.

The bank will transfer its business line for EUR1 billion, then using part of the proceeds to buy the Nexi stake from Mercury UK HoldCo Ltd.

"The transaction will enable Intesa Sanpaolo to extract proper value from the acquiring activities currently carried out internally, through the contribution of its business line...while retaining an interest in a business with significant growth prospects," it said.

The deal should be completed next year. The bank expects to post a capital gain of around EUR900 million in 2020.

"This capital gain might not be reflected in the net income entirely if, over the course of next year, allocations are identified that are appropriate to strengthen sustainable profitability," it said.

In November, the company said it was in preliminary talks over a potential deal.

Write to Pietro Lombardi at pietro.lombardi@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 19, 2019 07:18 ET (12:18 GMT)

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