Alphyra Group claims to have become Europe’s top independent payment network operator with the acquisition of EVS GmbH, one of Germany’s leading providers of electronic prepaid services.
EVS operates a substantial electronic payment network throughout Germany. In addition, the company has operations in several other European countries, including Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Alphyra already provides electronic prepaid services in Ireland, the UK, France, Italy, Holland, Sweden, Greece and Romania.
“EVS is a most important acquisition because it places Alphyra in a very strong position throughout Europe,” said CEO John Nagle.
“Alphyra now has more than 100,000 merchants across Europe and we are now positioned to achieve further rapid growth with an increased range of products,” he added.
Nagle said that the European prepay financial services and distribution sectors are consolidating rapidly. The purchase of EVS is the fourth acquisition by Alphyra since the company reverted to private ownership in 2003.
Alphyra is owned by Benchmark Capital and the management team. Benchmark, is a global company with more than €2bn in venture capital committed.
“We have been growing our market share substantially both organically and by acquisition over the past two years. We will continue with this strategy with further acquisitions, both in Europe and elsewhere,” Nagle said.
EVS been to the fore in terms of the transition to electronic top-up for mobile phones and has achieved significant success with its innovative wireless terminals, vending machines and integrated POS solutions.
Germany, with a population of 83 million, is the third largest prepaid market for mobile phones in Europe – after the UK and Italy – with over half of its 69 million subscribers using prepaid services.
Together with Alphyra’s existing German business, this acquisition makes Alphyra the market leader in electronic top-ups in Germany.
Commenting on the acquisition, Matthias Schneider, founder of EVS and now managing director for Alphyra in the region, said: “Our team is hugely enthusiastic about this development, we’ve shared similar ambitions to Alphyra and look forward to leveraging our new scale to deliver even greater value to our customers.”
By Brian Skelly
