Global Payments and la Caixa provide merchant acquiring services in a new JV

A worldwide provider of electronic transaction processing solutions Global Payments Inc has signed an agreement with la Caixa, the largest retail bank in Spain, to create a joint venture for merchant acquiring and payment processing services to merchants in Spain.

Barcelona based la Caixa was founded more than 100 years ago and now it is the market leader in Spanish merchant acquiring with over 150,000 merchant outlets. The bank has the largest consumer banking footprint in Spain with more than 5,000 branches, 10.5 million customers and a 21 percent market share in merchant acquiring.

As a part of the partnership Global Payments will pay euro 125 million in cash to acquire a 51 percent majority ownership in the venture. Meantime, la Caixa will own another 49 percent and will contribute its existing merchant acquiring business to the joint venture. Apart from this, the companies has agreed to a 20 years marketing alliance in which la Caixa will be referring customers to the joint venture for payment processing services in Spain and provide sponsorship into the card networks. The agreement is pending regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.