Skrill, the online payment company owned by Investcorp, has approved to purchase 100% of paysafecard.com Wertkarten for almost €140m.
paysafecard.com Wertkarten is an Austrian firm that offers prepaid electronic vouchers that enable consumers to shop online.
Formerly known as Moneybookers, Skrill claims that the acquisition of paysafecard will bolster its presence in the retail payment sector, spanning network in 31 countries across Europe, North and South America.
Skrill non-executive chairman and Investcorp managing director Hazem Ben-Gacem said that the company’s aim is to offer innovative, online payments services to its millions of merchants and end-users.
"The paysafecard acquisition establishes Skrill as a complete alternative payments platform, addressing both on and off-line channels, and offering merchants and end-users much greater flexibility in making and receiving payments," Ben-Gacem said.
"The two companies’ combined functionality will allow millions of people who are under-banked to benefit from Skrill’s payment services, and therefore enjoy the many advantages of online shopping. Both businesses have grown around 50% per annum over the last few years and we are confident that the combined company will continue to expand rapidly in this fast-growing online payment space".
According to an estimate the integrated operation of both firms will have a customer base of over 27 million, almost 130,000 merchant customers and over 100 different payment options in more than 40 currencies.