Nets Group takeover of Poland’s PeP completes

By Robin Amlot

Nets Group has completed the acquisition of the fast-growing Polish merchant acquirer PeP. The deal, originally announced in March, was said then to value PeP’s Enterprise Value at EUR 405 million. PeP has more than 160,000 point-of-sales terminals and offers a wide range of payment solutions with focus on the SME segment which – adding to earlier acquisitions – further expands and strengthens Nets Group’s presence in Poland.

“Poland is one of the most attractive regions in Europe when it comes to growth within digital payments, and PeP is one of the fastest growing companies there,” says Bo Nilsson, CEO of Nets Group. “With their SME focus and strong presence in the card acceptance and POS terminals space, PeP fits very well with our existing business, extending our portfolio of online payment solutions for merchants in Poland.”

Nets will retain both the PeP brand name and the local operations. PeP’s Executive Management under CEO Jaroslaw Mikos will also continue to run the business going forward. PeP employs more than 600 people and expects net sales of around EUR 55 million in 2020.

In the last three years, Nets Group has significantly expanded its European presence, having participated in six major strategic transactions since 2017 to provide exposure to high-growth regions and capture the continuing shift towards digital payments. Most recently Nets Group strengthened its presence in Switzerland with the acquisition of CCV Schweiz SA shifting its portfolio to a full-service offer. Nets Group has also built a platform across Poland with a strong focus on e-commerce, through the acquisition of Dotpay/eCard, a strategic alliance with Przelewy-24, as well as on POS services with the acquisition of PeP.

These acquisitions followed the merger with the Concardis Payment Group in 2019, building Nets Group’s presence in the DACH region, and the greater strategic focus on Merchant and Issuer Services with the EUR 2.85bn sale of the Group’s account-to-account business to Mastercard. Nets Group has significantly increased its exposure to high growth regions and as well to e-commerce, with the latter now comprising approximately 40% of Merchant Services revenue.