Network International acquires Emerging Markets Payments

DUBAI: Network International (the company), a leading payment solutions provider in the Middle East and Africa, on Wednesday announced it has agreed to acquire Emerging Markets Payments (EMP) from emerging markets private equity investor, Actis. This is the first acquisition made by Network International since Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic invested in the company in December 2015. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

EMP has an extensive footprint in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), serving more than 35,000 retailers and 130 banks and processing over nine million accounts. EMP has four key business lines including bank processing, merchant acquiring, retailer processing, and ATM services. The company serves a full range of card schemes including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club, and China UnionPay. Abdulla Qassem, Chairman of Network International, said: "We are delighted to announce our strategic investment in EMP. Together, Network International and EMP will be the clear market leader across the Middle East and Africa with presence across 71 countries. Combined, we have an even greater opportunity to continue to grow our footprint across the GCC and wider MEA region and provide industry-leading service to our merchant, bank and card processing partners as the industry continues to consolidate. We look forward to welcoming the EMP team to our business as we continue along this exciting growth path."

Bhairav Trivedi, CEO of Network International, said: "The combined strength of Network International and EMP creates an undisputed regional payments giant with a combined revenue five times larger than our closest competitor. Our acquisition of EMP will enable us to effectively service over 170 banks as clients and more than 70,000 merchants across the MEA.