Under the deal, Nexi will buy 80% of Paycomet, Sabadell's payments subsidiary, for 280 million euros, with the Spanish lender retaining a 20% stake for at least three years. The business that handles shopowners' payments is a source of stable income for banks, but the need for hefty investments has prompted an increasing number of banks to dispose of all or part of their payments operations. With the deal, Nexi will come to handle transactions worth around 48 billion euros for more than 380,000 Spanish shopowners, adding around 30 million euros of core profit based on 2023 data, it said. The sale is at an enterprise value for the unit of 11.5 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. Rothschild and Jefferies were financial advisers to Nexi which also worked with BCG, KPMG and Allen & Overy.

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