Hitachi Buys Out Shareholders in Indian Electronic Services Company
November 27, 2013 Leave a comment
Nov 26, 2013
Hitachi Buys Out Shareholders in Indian Electronic Services Company
By R. Jai Krishna
Japanese electronics maker Hitachi Ltd. said Tuesday that it plans to buy out all existing shareholders in Indian electronic payments service provider Prizm Payment Services Ltd., as it seeks to benefit from the expansion of financial services in the South Asian country. Hitachi didn’t disclose the transaction value of the purchase of stakes from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, Axis Bank Ltd., Winvest Holdings India Pvt. Ltd—the investment company owned by Prizm Payments’ founders—as well as other minority shareholders. Neither did it provide a breakdown of current stakes owned by the founders and other shareholders.The company, whose clients include Thales SA, Diebold Inc., VeriFone Systems Inc., American Express Co., Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc., had revenue of five billion rupees ($80 million) in the fiscal year that ended March 2013 and has about 1,100 employees, Hitachi said in a news release.
It was established in 2008 in the south Indian city of Chennai and provides payment technology services for equipment such as automated teller machines, or ATMs, and point-of-sale systems.
Hitachi hopes to take advantage of rapidly growing demand for financial service systems in India, it said, noting that ATMs, for example, are forecast to nearly triple in number in four years from around 100,000 in 2012.
Citing technology research firm International Data Corp, Hitachi said spending on information technology products and services in general is expected to grow by more than 10% for the next five years through 2017.
“Meanwhile, financial institutions in the country are working to roll out various services, including mobile device-based payment services,” it said.
Hitachi and Prizm Payment Services aim to complete the transaction by end of Feb. 2014, subject to agreements and regulatory approvals, Hitachi said.
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