Home / Deals / Advised Investcorp on the sale of its interest in Skrill, a leading European digital payments business, to Optimal Payments

Advised Investcorp on the sale of its interest in Skrill, a leading European digital payments business, to Optimal Payments
Apr 2015
sold to
$1,200 million
  • Sector: Digital Banking & Payments
  • Deal Type: Private Equity Deals
  • Engagement type: Sellside
  • Size: $1,200 million
Scroll

Arma Partners is pleased to announce that it has acted as exclusive financial adviser to Investcorp on the sale of Skrill Group (“Skrill” or the “Company”) to Optimal Payments PLC (“Optimal Payments”) (AIM:OPAY) for an enterprise value of €1.1bn.

Skrill is one of Europe’s leading digital payments businesses offering digital wallet solutions and online payment processing capabilities and is a leading pre-paid online voucher provider in Europe. The Company supplies solutions to a long-standing customer base spanning 40,000 merchants and over 36 million customer accounts.

Investcorp acquired a controlling shareholding in Skrill in March 2007, before recapitalising the Company in August 2013 when it sold a majority stake in the business.

Optimal Payments is a global provider of online and mobile payment processing services through its two primary brands, NETBANX and NETELLER.

This transaction demonstrates Arma Partners’ continued strength in Financial Technology M&A and our public company expertise.

– Skrill is one of Europe’s leading digital payments businesses offering digital wallet solutions and online payment processing capabilities and is a leading pre-paid online voucher provider in Europe

– Skrill operates through its flagship brands Skrill, paysafecard and Ukash

– The company supplies solutions to a long-standing customer base spanning 40,000 merchants and over 36 million customer accounts

– Skrill reported revenues of $332mn and EBITDA of $89mn for the 12 months ended Sep 2014

– Optimal Payments is a global provider of online and mobile payment processing services deriving 48% revenues from Europe and North America

– The company operates through its two primary brands, NETBANX and NETELLER

– Optimal’s clientele includes Ladbrokes, Bet365, Asda, Sky Bet, Easy group, etc.

– Optimal reported revenues of $365mn and EBITDA of $86mn for the year ended Dec 2014

– Enlarged group will have significantly enhanced scale to create market leadership in the stored value and payments processing sectors

– 100+ payment types in 22+ languages and 41 currencies offered by the group

– Increased merchant diversification and establishing a well-rounded and broad customer base

– Complementarity in Optimal Payments’ and Skrill’s geographic areas of operation and revenue generation

– The enlarged group’s principal membership with Visa Europe and MasterCard Europe provides a complete end to end payment solution for partners and merchants in Europe

– On-going cost saving synergies of $40 million per annum expected to be achieved by the end of the fiscal year ending 31 December 2016

– Arma Partners acted as exclusive financial advisors to Investcorp on the sale process

– Based on our deep banking and payments technology knowledge, Arma Partners provided Investcorp with:

  • Views on the equity positioning of the combined entity post transaction;
  • Market valuation guidance and updates;
  • Strategic transaction implications;
  • Value and consideration maximisation strategies; and
  • The post-deal returns strategy
Back to deals