AIB and First Data Corporation are acquiring the 96% stake in Payzone owned by private equity company Carlyle Cardinal Ireland.

The Joint Venture will be 75% owned by AIB and 25% owned by FDC. In the year to end September 2018, Payzone had EBITDA before exceptional items of €8.3m and gross assets of €59m.

The initial cash consideration being paid is c.€61m, which excludes expected net debt of c.€25m which will be settled by the JV on completion. Deferred consideration of €11m will be contingent on the achievement of certain conditions, according to AIB, and the JV has the option to acquire the 4.1% stake owned by Payzone managers.

Payzone is the largest consumer payments network in Ireland. It is used by 7,500 retail agents to process electronic transaction services such as mobile phone top-ups, debit/credit card transactions, M50 toll payments, Leap travel cards, local property tax payments, parking fees, schools and clubs payment platform, pre-paid utility and parcel collection services.

Payzone employs c.90 people and processes about 125 million transactions annually for 100 or more client companies.

In Association with

CCI, the private equity fund established by the US-based Carlyle Group and Cardinal Capital Group, acquired a majority shareholding in Payzone in March 2015. The senior management team, including chief executive Jim Deignan and chief financial offficer Nigel Bell will remain in their roles.

Deignan (pictured) commented: “We see significant opportunity to grow our footprint in the fintech sector, and this can only be enhanced further with the backing and support of our new shareholders, who bring deep industry expertise to make things happen.”

AIB consumer banking chief Robert Mulhall added: “This will be the second joint venture company created by AIB and First Data, following the creation of AIB Merchant Services in 2008 which is today Ireland’s largest merchant services company and the fourth largest e-commerce transaction acquiring company in Europe.

“AIB has seen very significant growth in digital payments, with volumes up over 67% year on year. It is estimated 20% of Irish adults regularly transact through Payzone to purchase their services. Joining Payzone’s partner payments services platform and operating model with AIB’s foundational APIs will place AIB at the centre of the emerging payments ecosystem.”

New York-based First Data Corporation is a multinational payments company that operates in more than 100 countries.