At the start of the session, the Nexi share shines in Piazza Affari with an increase of 1.4% to 7.7 euros. The long-term strategic partnership in the Spanish market Banco Sabadell has driven the prices of the Italian paytech.
The transaction provides for the acquisition by Nexi of 80% of the merchant acquiring business of Sabadell, following its spin-off into PayComet, a company wholly owned by Sabadell and an already authorized payment institution, for an upfront cash consideration of 280 million euros, which reflects an Enterprise Value of 350 million euros for 100%. Nexi will finance the operation entirely through available cash resources. There is also an exclusive distribution agreement with an initial term of 10 years, with two potential renewals of an additional 5 years each.
Once the transaction is completed, Nexi will acquire over 380,000 merchants and transaction volumes of around 48 billion euros (data as at 31 December 2022). According to forecasts, the merchant acquiring business will generate an Ebitda of approximately 30 million euros based on 2023 data, with an implied EV/EBITDA multiple in 2023E equal to approximately 11.5x.
Sabadell aims to become a strategic partner of Nexi in Spain and the exclusive distributor in the country, through its network of around 1,200 branches, of innovative European PayTech solutions. The partnership provides for a complete alignment of interests in order to promote business growth thanks to a rebate mechanism in favor of Sabadell, in addition to potential earn-outs, mainly subordinated to the achievement of financial growth objectives.