Nexi in €280 million deal for Sabadell acquisition business

European payments technology Nexi has agreed to buy 80% of Spanish banking giant Banco Sabadell’s procurement business for €280 million.

The deal, which values ​​the business unit at €350 million in total, will give Nexi access to more than 380,000 merchants and approximately €48 billion in transaction volume. As part of the acquisition, Sabadell will become a strategic partner for Nexi in Spain as well as the exclusive distributor for innovative Nexi solutions in the country. The fintech says the partnership will unlock access to “superior banking distribution capabilities” across 1,200 branches in Spain. The agreement is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.

The transaction is a positive step forward for Milan-based Nexi. Sabadell is the second largest retailer in the fourth largest economy in the Eurozone, with a significant market share across the procurement value chain. The country has a significant payments market with high spending power, but a card penetration rate of only 38%. This means that Sabadell customers will now be able to benefit from Nexi’s technology innovation, leveraging its unique purchasing capabilities to manage the acceptance of digital payments.

Sabadell ‘the best possible partner’ for Nexi

It is the latest payment fintech partnership; just last month, Nexi partnered with IBM to modernize its core payments technology.

Nexi CEO Paolo Bertoluzzo says: “We are very proud to have been chosen by Banco Sabadell, the best possible Spanish strategic partner, for our deep product and technology capabilities. With this partnership, we enter Spain from a strong position, a market which we have always considered very attractive for digital payments with great potential for further profitable and sustainable long-term growth, quite similar to Italy.

“This initiative, which further expands our growth opportunities, is a very important step forward in our strategy as a leading European payment technology that best combines European scale with market and customer proximity. The partnership with Banco Sabadell will allow us to be deeply rooted in market with a partner that fully shares our ambition to further accelerate the development of Spanish digital payments through product and commercial innovation. We have strong confidence in the combined capabilities of our teams and their determination to drive strong growth together.”