Report: Italian Bank Intesa to Sell Stake in Payments Firm Nexi

Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo has reportedly announced it will sell its stake in the Italian payments firm Nexi while continuing its strategic relationship with the company.

The bank’s stake is equal to 5.1% of the payments firm’s capital, a share that has diminished from a 9.9% holding in 2019 because Nexi issued new shares after two mergers — one with the Danish firm Nets and another with the Italian company SIA — Reuters reported Monday (Nov. 14).

Intesa invested in Nexi at that time as part of a deal to sell its own retail payments business, according to the report.

Intesa Sanpaolo did not immediately respond to PYMNTS’ request for comment. A Nexi spokesperson said they had no comment on the report.

The announcement comes about six weeks after Nexi unveiled a strategic growth plan that was well received by the stock market in which the firm said it would increase profits more than the markets expected over the next three years.

As reported Sept. 27 by PYMNTS, Nexi said it would generate around 2.8 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in excess cash and that it could use this additional cash for mergers and acquisitions, return it to shareholders or use it to cut debt.

Nexi’s leadership said at the time in a webcast that the company had experienced a positive effect of inflation on revenues without any erosion of profit margins.

About two weeks before that, Nexi was one of five companies selected by the European Central Bank (ECB) to be involved in a “prototyping exercise” that will be part of its two-year investigation phase into a digital euro — a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that could be used as an alternative to cash.

During this exercise, Nexi will test point-of-sale (POS) payments initiated by the payee while Amazon, Worldline, CaixaBank and the European Payments Initiative (EPI) will handle other parts of the project.

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