2019
Polskie ePłatności finalizes the purchase of BillBird
On 25 November 2019, Polskie ePłatności S.A. - one of the largest operators of non-cash payment processing on the Polish market, finalized the transaction of the purchase of BillBird S.A. This was the result of meeting the conditions precedent, including obtaining the consent of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority and the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. The acquired company specializes in providing additional services rendered on payment terminals.
The acquisition of BillBird S.A. will complement our product offer by services such as bill payment and Paysafecard’s energy and internet top-ups. We believe that value-added services will encourage consumers to visit our customers’ retail and service points more often. With the acquisition of BillBird, PeP will create an offer that is as exhaustive as possible for terminal and e-commerce users – says Jarosław Mikos, President of the Management Board of Polskie ePłatności S.A.
The development of technology, combined with the non-cash payment popularization in Poland, results in growing expectations of consumers, shops and other entities accepting payments. The scope of services offered via a payment terminal is also growing. This makes companies more appealing to customers and generates additional revenue.
“I am delighted that BillBird has joined PeP, the Polish leader in non-cash payment processing and provider of other services. BillBird solutions will make the PeP offer even more interesting thanks to complementary services and competence. I believe that adding a number of solutions supporting our customers’ business will strengthen the Group’s position on the market – says Wojciech Włodarczyk, President of the Management Board of BillBird S.A.
Polskie ePłatności is growing at an impressive rate. In under three years, the company has more than tripled the scale of its operations and thus advanced to third place on the market. Pursuant to a NBP report, in Q2 2019 the number of terminals in Poland increased by 31,000 compared to Q1, of which over 10,000 were the terminals of PeP.
“This is the dynamic we wish to maintain. A very fast organic growth will soon be complemented by another acquisition. In terms of products, PeP is already becoming a leader, providing a one stop shop for all the services available on the market. The acquisition of BillBird S.A. is the fourth transaction PeP has completed in the last 3 years – says Marcin Drozdowski, Vice-President of the Management Board of Polskie ePłatności S.A. responsible for M&A.
“Planning the way forward for our portfolio companies, we try to find the best solutions in terms of strategy. Our main objective in this investment was to support PeP in implementing ambitious expansion plans in a very promising and dynamic payment services market. The merger with BillBird will undoubtedly expand the product offer and accelerate the growth of our company. – comments Krzysztof Kulig, Senior Partner, supervising the transaction on behalf of Innova Fund.
