EVO Finalizes Purchase of Banco Popular Acquiring Stake

EVO Payments International LLC has finalized its acquisition of a controlling interest in Banco Popular merchant acquiring business in Spain that was disclosed last December as part of EVO's push to become an established global payments processor.

Concurrent with the acquisition, Banco Popular and EVO have entered a 10 year marketing alliance, with the bank exclusively referring merchant customers to the joint venture.

In terms of assets and clients, Banco Popular is the fifth largest bank in Spain and also one of the largest in Europe. Its merchant acquiring business will now be called Popular Payments.

“In a continued effort to expand our global scale and reach, we are excited to announce the completion of our second European financial institution partnership,” says James Kelly, CEO of EVO, in a Nov. 4 press release. “We look forward to providing innovative products and services to the bank’s existing and future merchant customers in Spain.”

EVO has been transforming itself  into an international payments company for several years, gaining momentum after Kelly, who had extensive experience in international payments, signed on as CEO.

In January, Madison Dearborn Partners bought a minority stake in EVO to help fund the company’s expansion.