Payment Processer Sold for £800m

Payment Processer Sold for £800m

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

The parent company of Neteller, Optimal Payments Plc, has just announced that it will be purchasing one of its processing peers, Skrill.

The deal, which is said to be worth £800 million, will bring one of the online poker world's leading payment processors into one of the largest financial groups in the world.

It's been less than two years since CVC Capital Partners purchased a controlling stake in Skrill, but with eyes on other options in the online gaming world (CVC recent purchased an 80% stake in SkyBet), the company decided to offload Skrill.

Commenting on the purchase, Dennis Jones, the Chairman of Optimal Payments, said the opportunity was one his company couldn't turn down.

"We are taking advantage of an exceptional opportunity to acquire a business we know very well which, combined with Optimal Payments, will be a leading UK based online payments business with the essential scale necessary to be highly successful. These opportunities are few and far between. The Board believes this transformational transaction will be earnings accretive for shareholders from the first full fiscal year of ownership, will further diversify our client base and, additionally, will enable us to deliver enhanced services to existing and prospective merchants and customers in all of our global markets," said Jones.

With Skrill now under the control of a UK based company, it's expected that security and efficiency of transfers will be improved for British based online poker players.



Tags: Skrill, Neteller, Optimal Payments