UniCredit, Nexi agree broad terms for new payments accord, source says (updated)
27/03/2024 15:15
(Recasts with details from source, analyst calls)
ROME, March 27 (Reuters) - Italian bank UniCredit
CRDI.MI and payments company Nexi NEXII.MI have agreed on
broad terms to renegotiate their existing working agreement, a
person with knowledge of the matter said, confirming press
reports.
Il Sole 24 Ore and MF newspapers reported on Wednesday that
a revised accord would be signed later this year.
The deal will be adjusted under terms that are more
satisfactory to UniCredit while also widening the markets in
which the two companies collaborate, the source said, adding
that it would be finalised in the next few weeks.
UniCredit and Nexi had no immediate comment.
Unicredit's CEO Andrea Orcel has said the bank will provide
an update on an ongoing review of its payments business at the
end of the first quarter.
Italian payments infrastructure group SIA signed a 10-year
contract with UniCredit in 2016 to manage card and shop payments
as well as cash withdrawal machines ahead of a being acquired by
Nexi, which inherited the contract.
Orcel, who is working to boost the weight of fees in
UniCredit's revenues, is trying to manage its payments business
in a more unified way across markets, prompting investor
concerns that it might seek new partners, in a blow to Nexi.
However, Nexi's finance chief Bernardo Mingrone told
analysts in November that the contract did not envisage the
possibility of an early break-up.
The contract is "very solid" and Nexi is "very keen to
help UniCredit achieve their ambitions in payments, which are
growing," the payments company's CEO Paolo Bertoluzzo said at
the time.
"Normally if you end up signing a new deal on top of an
existing one that is solid it's something that you consider
win-win for the company," he told analysts.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Gavin Jones)
((alvise.armellini@thomsonreuters.com;))