Kalixa substantially increases scale with acquisition of PXP Solutions

bwin.party today announces that its Kalixa payments group has acquired PXP Solutions, a private company with a 27-year track record in the card payment processing sector. Financial terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed. 

The acquisition represents an important step in the acceleration of the Group's three-year plan to grow Kalixa and to increase significantly the proportion of its revenue coming from outside the Group.  Integrating PXP will significantly grow the size of Kalixa's payment processing volume and is expected to generate substantial revenue synergies in the areas of credit and debit card acquisition and issuance.  With further strategic moves planned for later in the year, Kalixa is well on its way towards achieving the scale, breadth and customer reach that will ensure it can realise its potential.  

Background

From its origins as the former internal payments department of bwin interactive entertainment AG, now operating under a single brand and with its own management team, Kalixa has been transformed into a fast-growing end-to-end provider of payment services to third-party merchants, consumers and corporate customers across Europe.  With a robust and fully integrated payments platform, Kalixa is well-placed to take advantage of the secular growth that is driving digital payments volumes across the globe and the Board believes that it will become an increasingly valuable asset for the Group and its shareholders.

The acquisition

The combination of Kalixa and PXP will enhance the competitive position of both businesses in the global and rapidly growing payments services sector. On a pro forma basis, in 2013 the combined businesses processed a total transaction volume of €10bn.

Following completion, Kalixa now has both the critical mass and breadth to offer end-to-end capabilities covering all payments across each of the three segments of the market - issuing, acquiring and acceptance - via any channel and any device using a single, integrated and advanced technology platform.

Both Kalixa and PXP Solutions will continue to operate under their existing brand names and address their respective segments of the payments market.

Kalixa already provides a broad range of electronic payment solutions and products, including in-store and online merchant services, payment gateway connections and financial settlement, card issuing, e-wallet services and money transfer, together with value-added services such as fraud management, risk mitigation, chargeback handling and reconciliations. In 2013, Kalixa processed transactions for 300 merchants globally and 200,000 consumers worldwide use the Kalixa Pay prepaid e-wallet for physical and online purchases.

PXP's in-store payments technology is used by 8,000 merchants and retailers in 27 countries worldwide. Its customers range from SMEs to leading consumer brands including Urban Outfitters, Burger King and SAGA. It processes 3.6 million transactions per month.

The acquisition will create significant value for customers who choose to use Kalixa's end-to-end payments offering, through the delivery of improved customer loyalty, data collection and analytics, access to more product innovations and improved operational efficiencies.

Norbert Teufelberger, Chief Executive Officer of bwin.party, said:

"Kalixa is on-course to become a significant player in the digital payments arena. Today's acquisition provides excellent cross-selling opportunities for both Kalixa and PXP and has created a payments business with a balanced portfolio of customers, sectors, and geographies across Europe starting to enter the US and APAC.  We are working on a series of other strategic initiatives that we expect will further enhance the future prospects for Kalixa and its value to the Group."

Ed Chandler, Chief Executive Officer of Kalixa, said:

"Today's announcement marks a major milestone in creating a world-class payments company with an unrivalled portfolio across the entire payments value chain. Kalixa and PXP together now have the scale and breadth of services to expand significantly in the global payments market. We are focused on introducing Kalixa Pro and Kalixa Pay services to PXP's extensive portfolio of merchants across 27 countries and in the process diversify into new sectors such as retail, travel and leisure, and financial services."

Ritz Steytler, Chief Executive Officer of PXP Solutions who will become Chief Operating Officer of Kalixa, added:

"The payments industry has a reputation for being complex, expensive and inflexible, while adding little value to merchants and consumers alike. As a result of joining together with Kalixa, we can provide merchants of all sizes with one partner, one contract, and one service on a single, proven and fully integrated payments platform."

bwin.party was advised by McQueen Limited; and Brandl & Talos Rechtsanwälte GmbH.