The third quarter of 2017 will see the merger of B+S, a top German acquirer and provider of cashless point-of-sale payment services, and PAYONE, one of Germany’s 50 fastest-growing tech companies. The resulting company will provide a comprehensive range of payment and related services to merchants, doing business as BS PAYONE GmbH. The new company will be headquartered in Frankfurt am Main and have offices in Kiel and other locations throughout Europe.

As a payment service provider, BS PAYONE GmbH consolidates a unique combination of payment expertise in brick-and-mortar retail as well as e-commerce in Europe. The company can look back on 30 years of experience with point-of-sale systems and 15 years in e-commerce. All told, BS PAYONE has some 255,000 customers in 18 countries. Handling more than one billion transactions per year, BS PAYONE is one of Europe’s leading providers of payment processing services.

Mang: Savings bank organization now has 360-degree service provider

Both companies belong to the DSV Group, a specialized solution provider and payment center of excellence for the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. According to Thomas Mang, President of the Savings Bank Association of Lower Saxony and Chairman of the DSV Shareholders’ Meeting: “The new BS PAYONE GmbH will be an all-around payment service provider that will enable the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe to provide corporate clients with a 360-degree range of point-of-sale, e-commerce, and m-commerce services.”

Goldmann: BS PAYONE reinforces payment center of excellence

Volker Goldmann, Chairman of the Management Board of Sparkasse Bochum and DSV’s Supervisory Board Chairman, believes the merger will “strengthen the role of the DSV Group as the center of excellence for payments in the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. The new company, which will offer one-stop shopping for payment services, will benefit both savings banks and their customers.”

To date, B+S has been wholly owned by the DSV Group, which has also held an 80-percent stake in PAYONE. Both of PAYONE’s founding managing directors and shareholders, Carl Frederic Zitscher and Jan Kanieß, will remain on board and join the BS PAYONE management team. The new BS PAYONE will have around 650 employees in six offices.

Gans: Conditions in place for European expansion

“This structure allows us to put into place the ideal conditions for a successful future in the card acceptance services business,” says Wilhelm Gans, Management Chairman of the DSV Group (Deutscher Sparkassenverlag). “BS PAYONE will be omnichannel ready and able to handle all forms of payment. We will therefore fulfill not only the expectations of savings banks and their customers, but also reinforce our market position as a payment services provider.” This in turn will set the scene for successfully attracting an investor to take a minority stake in the company. BS PAYONE plans for this partner to provide support for the acceleration of its European growth strategy.

Santschi and Zitscher: Combined expertise

Niklaus Santschi, Management Chairman of B+S Card Service as well as the future BS PAYONE, expects the merger to give the payment services provider a boost: “The merger of B+S Card Service and PAYONE is the next logical step in the growth strategies of both companies. Together we can offer an innovative and attractive range of services along the entire payment value chain, across all channels, and covering international as well as country-specific payment methods. The fact that both of the founders of PAYONE, Carl Frederic Zitscher and Jan Kanieß, as well as Dr. Frank Isfort of B+S are joining the new BS PAYONE management team means we are consolidating expertise and ensuring continuity.”

Carl Frederic Zitscher, Managing Director of PAYONE and soon of BS PAYONE, adds: “Both companies complement each other ideally in terms of employees, technology, and customer base. From this starting point, we will establish a European market leader in omnichannel payments. Jan Kanieß and I are pleased that we will be participants in the future development of the new BS PAYONE, not just as members of the management team, but also as shareholders.”

The closing for the transaction is pending the approval of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and the Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt).