The Czech payment gateway GoPay has been acquired by Worldline, a provider of payment and transaction services.
Worldline’s acquisition of a 53% majority stake in the Czech company was first announced in April this year, and the agreement was concluded during the third quarter. The companies had to wait for the Czech National Bank to approve the transaction. Nothing has changed for employees or customers yet, and the GoPay team will continue to operate from southern Bohemia, where the company is based.
“I am very happy to welcome GoPay in the Worldline Group, which will significantly expand our online payment capabilities in the fast growing Eastern European markets and strengthen our existing relationship with Komercni Banca,” Gilles Grapinet, Chairman and CEO of Worldline said.
More than 15,000 merchants have used GoPay services in the last year, and almost 13,000 of them have accepted payment via GoPay during the previous three months. Most clients are traders from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. The annual volume of mediated payments is in the tens of billions of CZK. The company’s revenues for 2019 amounted to approximately CZK 200 million, operating margin before depreciation and amortization (OMDA) to approximately CZK 50 million.
The founder and current manager of GoPay, Pavel Schwarz, will continue to be fully involved in the company’s daily operations and will be instrumental in both product development and in achieving the ambitious business plan and synergies going forward.
“Together with the GoPay team, we are proud to be part of the Worldline family. This will enable us to enlarge our footprint in the region even faster and further develop our products and services. I strongly believe our customers will benefit from this new partnership,” Pavel Schwarz, founder, and CEO of GoPay, said.
Worldline has a right to acquire the remaining 47% of GoPay share capital in 2022.
Payment giant Worldline specializes in processing card transactions in e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores and operates in 30 countries worldwide, employing approximately 12,000 people.