Skrill completes Paysafecard acquisition

Payments provider Skrill has concluded its deal to acquire prepaid voucher business Paysafecard for a total consideration of up to €140m.

The two parties had reached an initial acquisition agreement in June last year, and it was described at the time as Skrill’s biggest acquisition to date.

Since then the company formerly known as Moneybookers agreed a partnership with ID verification business Cybits, aimed primarily at the German market.

It has also made a number of significant appointments in the last 12 months, with CEO Siegfried Heimgaertner arriving just weeks before the initial Paysafecard agreement was reached and Craig Doyle – who, like Heimgaertner – had previously held a senior position with payment solutions provider Ingenico – joining last month.

Heimgaertner said of the deal “For both sides this is a strategically important acquisition and we are pleased it is now finalised. paysafecard complements our current offering and strengthens our position in the key gaming and digital media markets verticals, establishing us as a provider of end-of-end transfer of stored value.

“This is another significant step towards our long-term ambitions to become the first choice for online payments, helping our end-customers and merchants to pay and get paid globally,” he added.

Paysafecard CEO Michael Mueller spoke of his company’s “Great faith in Skrill’s entrepreneurial vision,” explaining “Having grown into a market leader for prepaid payments our consolidation with Skrill is a natural next step for the business, taking our products to a global network of merchants and consumers.”