Nexi Makes $400M Bid for Payment Unit of BPER Banca

Nexi, an Italian company working in payments, is in a $400 million bid for the payments unit of BPER Banca, according to a Monday (Feb. 21) Bloomberg report.

BPER’s business specializes in managing electronic payments, and the sale could add to more consolidation in the sector. Nexi and BPER reportedly began talks earlier in February about the possibility of the sale, and the deal might be signed by early March, according to anonymous sources.

“It makes sense for BPER to sell a business that needs scale to remain profitable,” said Fabrizio Bernardi, an analyst at Bestinver Sociedad de Valores SA. “The bank may use the proceeds from disposal to speed up de-risking and restructuring.”

The European payments industry is currently consolidating, with banks getting rid of their own units and specialized players adding to their business. Nexi’s goal is to buy the payments assets from its banking partners, and also keep the relations and contracts in place with the banks.

Nexi CEO Paolo Bertoluzzo has bolstered the company through acquisitions and making the biggest payments firm by volume in Europe, according to the report.

The company has bought the merchant payment businesses of several Italian banking partners like Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Banca Carige and Intesa Sanpaolo. In November, Nexi also bought the payment system of Alpha Bank.

Earlier this month, PYMNTS wrote that Nexi is considering selling the German buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm Ratepay, after acquiring it two years ago when it bought the Nordic firm Nets.

Read more: Nexi Payments Could Unload BNPL Unit Ratepay

The report said Ratepay had a possible valuation of around $1.1 billion. Ratepay’s services involve BNPL and various other eCommerce payment options.

Nexi is engaging in a “substantial analysis” to see if the sale of the unit would make sense. There are discussions going on, according to anonymous sources Bloomberg spoke with, and nothing has been decided yet.