ESCHBORN, GERMANY, 13 January 2017 – Advent International and Bain Capital Private Equity (the “Consortium”) today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to acquire Concardis GmbH, a leading German payment service provider, from a group of German private banks, co-operative banks, savings banks and DZ Bank. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.

Concardis has been a joint venture of the German banking sector until now, and the change in ownership marks the beginning of a new phase of investment and planned expansion. Originally focused on connecting retailers to credit card systems, in recent years Concardis has developed a leading position as a full-service payment provider in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). The company has expanded its suite of services across the payments value chain, strengthening its capabilities in e-commerce, omnichannel payments and value-added services for its merchant customers, both organically and through strategic acquisitions. Over the past two years, Concardis has grown its transaction volume by 19.1 percent from €35.2 billion to €41.9 billion.

The new owners, Advent International and Bain Capital Private Equity, bring significant sector expertise, operational resources and capital to help accelerate Concardis’ growth and internationalisation strategy. Collectively, they are the most experienced private equity investors in the payments sector globally and have completed over 20 investments in market segments relevant to Concardis. Most recently, Advent International and Bain Capital Private Equity have supported the development of ICBPI and ISP Processing in Italy, Nets (OMX: NETS) in the Nordic region and Worldpay (LSE: WPG) in the UK.

Christophe Jacobs van Merlen, a Managing Director at Bain Capital Private Equity, commented, “We have been following Concardis closely for some time and have been impressed by its growth and the management team’s strategic vision and execution abilities. By increasing investment in innovation, infrastructure and skills, we will help Concardis become the payments champion in the DACH region.”

Jeff Paduch, a Managing Director at Advent International, added, “We see a significant opportunity in the German market for a best-in-class merchant-facing proposition in payments. Concardis is the ideal platform to drive consolidation in the market, and we look forward to supporting the business with additional capital to achieve this.”

Marcus W. Mosen, CEO of Concardis, said, “With Advent International and Bain Capital Private Equity, Concardis will have financially strong partners to support the continued growth and internationalization of the business. The payment industry is undergoing significant consolidation, and we want to be active participants in this process. Advent International and Bain Capital Private Equity consider Concardis to be the right platform for establishing a leading international payment service provider based in Germany. This is good for the company, our employees and our customers, and we are very excited about this development.”

Dr. Andreas Martin, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Concardis, added, “The successful sale of Concardis is a confirmation of the strength and sustainability of the company. The investment from leading global private equity firms such as Advent International and Bain Capital Private Equity is a vote of confidence in the long-term potential of the business and its employees. With its new ownership Consortium, Concardis will remain an independent payment service provider, advancing its plans to expand internationally from its base in Germany.”

The completion of the transaction is subject to certain conditions, including approval by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and the German Federal Bank.

Over the course of the transaction, Advent International and Bain Capital Private Equity were advised by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Corestar Partners and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. The coordinators for the selling shareholders were Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, with Hogan Lovells International LLP as legal advisor.