Osborne Clarke has advised Wirecard AG on its acquisition of payments business Great Indian (GI) Retail Group, one of India’s and South East Asia’s leading electronic payment and retail-assisted e-commerce groups.
Wirecard will acquire 100 per cent of the shares of companies operating payment services in India, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia under the brands “iCASHCARD”, “Smartshop”, “StarGlobal”, “Commerce Payment” as well as several segment brands. Furthermore, Wirecard will also acquire 60 per cent of the shares in GI Technology Private Limited (GIT), a licensed Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuer in India. Wirecard will take over more than 900 staff in the various offices.
The total cash consideration including a capital increase of GI Technology will amount to EUR 230 million, completely paid for in cash and financed by own capital and by committed bank loans. Further payments of up to a total of EUR 110 million are linked to the overall financial performance of the acquired businesses in calendar years 2015 to 2017.
The Osborne Clarke team that advised on the acquisition was led by Partners Dr Matthias Terlau (capital markets, banking and payment regulation, M&A) and Dr Björn Hürten (Corporate / M&A) and. The team also includes Konstantin Ewald (IT law), Patrick Smith (capital markets, regulatory), Annette Simon (Corporate / M&A) and Nico Just (antitrust). BTG Legal, partner firm in India, advised on local law with Prashant Mara (M&A, Corporate) and Vikram Singh (M&A, Regulatory).
Osborne Clarke advises Wirecard on a regular basis, both on the day-to-day business aspects on questions of payment services as well as transactions, most recently the acquisition of the Acquiring Portfolio of Lufthansa Airplus as well as acquisitions in South Africa and Turkey. In the present transaction with complexity also in regulation Osborne Clarke could rely on its knowledge and experience in European and foreign banking and payment regulation. Also the firm profited from its intimate knowledge of the Indian market and customs.
