NETS lands PKK

TALLINN- Pankade Kaardikeskus (PKK), thenational processor of card transactions in Estonia has been acquired by Northern EuropeanTransaction Services (NETS), a leading European processor of card transactionsin the Nordic countries. The price NETS paid has not been made public.

Commenting on the deal, GILD Bankers partnerHeikki Källu said that the sale of the national processor reflects the currentpan-European consolidation trend in the industry: "In recent years a number ofsimilar deals have taken place. For example Norwegian group EDB bought theSwedish card processing company CEKAB and US origin First Data International who also has apresence in Latvia and Lithuania acquired POLCARD, the largest processor in Poland. In addition several mergers have occured,such as VOCA and LINK in the United Kingdom and clearing service provider SIA merging withprocessor SBB in Italy.

"One of the drivers of this consolidation in Europe is the creation of SEPA (Single Euro PaymentsArea) that is planned to be launched on a broader scale in 2010. The main goalof SEPA is to allow payment transactions in the eurozone to become as smoothand efficient as they currently are in the domestic markets."

GILD acted as an adviser to Hansabank, SEB andDanske Bank in the sale.

No changes are in plan with the day to dayoperations of PKK following the NETS acquisition. The key business in Estonia will continue to be providing services to thebanks operating in Estonia.

PKK was established in 1993 when Estonian banksbegan issuing payment cards. PKK today focuses on providing support services toelectronic banking. In 2007 the revenue of PKK was EUR 4.3 mln with a profit ofEUR 1.5 mln.