Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
North American payments processors are focusing lately on bulking up resources in Latin America, largely via acquisition. The latest example is Montreal-based Nuvei Corp., which on Tuesday said it has acquired Paymentez LLC, a 10-year-old payments provider that enables more than 80 payment methods in Mexico as well as 10 countries in South America. Terms of the deal were not announced.
The news follows a pair of acquisitions rival processor Paysafe Group Holdings Ltd. has lately executed in the South American market and throws into relief the efforts by established payments firms to seek out high-growth international opportunities.
Miami-based Paymentez, which concentrates in e-commerce, offers a payments gateway, as well as prepaid card and card acquiring services, for some 4,000 merchants, according to the announcement. Its markets include online games, delivery services, transportation, and sports. It offers local acquiring in Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. Clients include DirecTV, General Motors, and Rappi, a technology firm supporting online delivery services.
“Paymentez further increases our total addressable market by significantly expanding and strengthening our presence in Latin America, along with enhancing our regional processing capabilities, enabling us to support even more local payment methods,” said Philip Fayer, chairman and chief executive of Nuvei, in a statement.
The growth potential offered by payments providers operating in Latin America has not gone unnoticed by other major processors. Paysafe last month announced it had struck an agreement to pay $441 million to acquire SafetyPay, a Miami-based processor operating in 19 countries, mostly in Latin America. The firm’s banking links also hand London-based Paysafe a foothold in open banking in those markets. Meanwhile, Paysafe has also closed on an approximately $110-million deal for Peru-based processor PagoEfectivo.
The allure for these companies is the growth potential in processing for local payments in Latin American. “Online commerce in Latin America is growing at an unprecedented rate, representing one of the fastest growing markets in the world,” Fayer said. “The acquisition [of Paymentez] ensures that we’re well-positioned with the technology and expertise for the market to service new customers as well as broaden our capabilities and deepen our relationships with our existing global customers.”
Nuvei’s latest deal will represent a significant expansion in South America, where until now just four of its 1,018 employees are posted. Its operations have been concentrated in North America and the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region. Overall, the company reported $21.9 billion in volume in the June quarter, more than double the volume it handled in the year-ago period.
