Poste accelerates in the payments sector and takes home the largest acquisition in its history, at least since it was listed. The company led by Matteo Del Fante has finalized the shopping of Lis, sold by the Igt group (the former Lottomatica) and which brings with it its widespread presence in the so-called “proximity payments”. In fact, it has a network of about 54 thousand points of sale – essentially bars and tobacconists – where it offers services such as payment of bulletins, prepaid payment cards, telephone top-ups and other services for merchants and businesses.
PostePay in particular completed the acquisition of Lis Holding, with which there was already a commercial partnership, which paid out a figure of 700 million euros for the purchase of 100% of the capital, including 70 million cash. As a long-time commercial partner of Poste Italiane, a note informs, Lis uses a proprietary paytech platform and distinctive skills: in 2021 Lis generated a gross turnover of 228 million and an EBITDA of 40 million (gross operating margin) and, in the first half of 2022, a gross turnover of 132 million and an EBITDA (+ 16% year on year) of 24 million.
The declared objective of the letter company is to consolidate PostePay “its leadership in the payments market and in the ecosystem of digital services”. PostePay “will leverage the technological know-how of LIS to expand its product offer and strengthen the solutions dedicated to Small and Medium Enterprises, thus consolidating its leadership position in the paytech market”, explains Poste in a note. “The acquisition of Lis – comments Del Fante – represents the most significant financial acquisition transaction in the history of Poste Italiane, reflecting the commitment made to increase our market share in the rapidly growing payments segment, strengthening the positioning of PostePay as a leading company in the paytech sector and further contributing to the implementation of our omnichannel strategy “” We welcome the management team and all employees and – he continues – we are pleased that Lis has achieved results in the first half in line with our expectations, in further acceleration in the second half of 2022. Full control of Lis’s proprietary platform combined with the internalisation of technological know-how will allow us to further advance in the implementation of our omnichannel strategy and in the area of payment solutions “.