Cape Town - Net1 UEPS Technologies on Tuesday said it had agreed to acquire a 30 percent interest in Liechtenstein-based Bank Frick & Co. The Nasdaq-listed provider of payment solutions and transaction processing services said, once the deal had been completed, it would have a two-year option to acquire a further 35 percent in Bank Frick, the only bank in Liechtenstein with acquiring licences from Visa and MasterCard.
Net1, which has a secondary listing on the JSE, said the deal was subject to regulatory approval in the tiny central European country.
Serge Belamant, chief executive of Net1, said the company entered into an agreement with Bank Frick, which has a branch in London, last year to become a strategic partner for the provision of support and banking services required to deploy Net1’s products and services in Europe.
“We have jointly identified many exciting joint opportunities that would require funding, whether for our working capital finance, card issuing and acquiring or transaction processing activities,” Belamant said.
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“We have agreed with Bank Frick that approximately $30 million of its free equity will be utilised as seed capital for a fund dedicated to our future activities.”
Mario Frick, chairman of the family-run bank, said: “With the expansion of Net1’s involvement we will be able to strengthen our current business areas, drive forward our fintech strategy, develop new digital business models and enter new markets.
“Thanks to the scale effects this will bring we can face the increasingly complex regulatory environment more effectively,” he added.