Dubai: Global investment firms Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic have agreed to acquire a 49 per cent stake in Network International, a leading payment solutions provider in the Middle East and Africa from The Abraaj Group.
Network International is the leading payments processing business focused on the Middle East and Africa.
The company provides services across the entire payments ecosystem, with a focus on merchant acquiring services, in which it processes transactions for merchants covering online, offline and mobile, and issuing processing services, in which it processes payment transactions for banks.
Network International offers a number of innovative, tech-enabled solutions to its clients, including prepaid and loyalty solutions. The company is the only third-party payments processor globally to have a principal membership agreement with both Visa International and MasterCard.
“As Network International enters an exciting new stage in our growth and development across the Middle East and Africa, we are confident that General Atlantic and Warburg Pincus will be invaluable strategic partners given their deep expertise in the payments sector,” said Abdulla Qassem, Chairman of Network International.
Abraaj Group originally led the acquisition of 49 per cent of the company in 2011. Network International will continue to be majority owned (51 per cent) by Emirates NBD.
“This is an exciting new phase in the evolution of the business and we look forward to working with the company on its future path to growth,” said Shayne Nelson, Group Chief Executive Officer of Emirates NBD.
The entry of two global investment giants as shareholders is expected to boost the international expansion capabilities of Network International. “Having leading investment firms Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic as shareholders of Network International bodes well for the company’s ambitious growth and expansion plans,” said Bhairav Trivedi, CEO of Network International.
“As the payments sector continues to benefit from long-term structural growth, we are delighted to partner with CEO Bhairav Trivedi, his talented management team and Emirates NBD, to help Network International extend its leadership position across the Middle East and Africa,” commented Joseph Schull, Managing Director and Head of EMEA for Warburg Pincus.
Earlier this week Warburg Pincus closed a $12 billion private equity fund, the largest the firm has conducted since before the financial crisis. The investment company acquired a majority stake in Mercator from Dnata in April last year.
In the deal, Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic were advised by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Perella Weinberg & Partners, and Morgan Stanley. While Emirates NBD was advised by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Abraaj was advised by Moelis.
