Nordea to divest its merchant acquiring business to Nets

Nordea has signed an agreement to divest its merchant acquiring business (“NMA”) to Nets Holding A/S (“Nets”).

Merchant acquiring is a service provided to corporate customers, enabling them to accept card payments at point-of-sale and online.

- The sale of the NMA business and the establishment of a partnership with Nets will secure a long-term Merchant Acquiring offering to our corporate customers on competitive terms. A changing regulatory environment and fast-paced technological development in the sector require both larger scale and substantial investments from providers of merchant acquiring services. Nets has the requisite scale and will bring technological capabilities and the ability to make necessary investments in the business going forward, says Lennart Jacobsen, Head of Retail Banking.

The business is sold for a price of EUR 230 million on an enterprise value basis. Nordea’s capital gain after tax on the transaction will be approximately EUR 175 million to be recognised under Other operating income upon closing of the transaction.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approval and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015.

For further information:
Rodney Alfvén, Head of Investor Relations, +46 72 235 05 15
Claus Christensen, Head of Group Communications, +45 25 24 89 93

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