PayLens /Companies

Comercia Global Payments

Acquirer

SpainSpainFounded 2010
Revenue
€676mas of 2025
Employees
178
Headquarters
Barcelona, Spain

What it does

Comercia Global Payments is paid by the merchants whose card acceptance it acquires. The CNMC's report and proposed resolution in merger case C/1405/23 (COMERCIA/UNIVERSALPAY, notified 21 July 2023) describes it as offering merchants acquiring services over POS terminals and e-commerce that let them receive the funds due after a card transaction, a bundle covering installation of the terminals, the supply and management of those terminals, processing of the transaction and the guarantee of payment for goods or services bought in the merchant's physical premises or online store. The same document records that Comercia also provides services ancillary to acquiring, and that its wholly owned subsidiary EPG Support Espana supplies payment gateway services to merchants and develops software solutions. Its cost side runs the other way: to deliver the service it holds agreements with processors such as Redsys, with payment schemes such as Visa and Mastercard, and with terminal suppliers such as Econocom, Ingenico and Redsys. On price the document stays at market level, recording the notifying party's statement that operators charge very similar prices for acquiring and ancillary terminal services and that e-commerce acceptance is sold as basic price packages for small and medium customers and tailored packages for certain medium and large ones.

Deals

  • Jul 2023·acquired UniversalPay — Notified to the CNMC on 21 Jul 2023 and authorised in phase 1 on 26 Jul 2023 (C/1405/23, resolution https://www.cnmc.es/sites/default/files/4893692_0.pdf). UniversalPay moved from Global Payments' sole control to joint control of Global Payments and CaixaBank through Comercia, which absorbs it under a framework agreement between Comercia, UniversalPay, Global Payments, CaixaBank and CaixaBank Payments & Consumer. Comercia said on 29 Dec 2023 (Europa Press) that it had completed the acquisition in 2023 and begun integration. Comercia remains 80% Global Payments and 20% CaixaBank. No price was disclosed.
  • Jul 2021·acquired Bankia merchant acquiring business — Sale contract signed 8 Jul 2021 and disclosed by CaixaBank to the CNMV on 9 Jul 2021 at €260M, alongside a separate €17M sale of Bankia's prepaid-card business to Global Payments MoneytoPay. The two sales gave CaixaBank a €187M net consolidated gain. Comercia was then 80% Global Payments and 20% CaixaBank. CNMC authorised it in phase 1 on 21 Sep 2021 (C/1229/21, https://www.cnmc.es/sites/default/files/3792836_1.pdf) as the move of Bankia's TPV business from CaixaBank's sole control to joint control with Global Payments through Comercia. Global Payments' FY2021 10-K lists 'the Bankia merchant services business' among acquisitions completed in 2021, and CaixaBank had guided to closing in Q4 2021.
  • Jul 2020·acquired by Global Payments — Global Payments agreed in July 2020 to buy 29% of Comercia from CaixaBank, its partner in the Spanish merchant acquiring joint venture, and extended the partnership through 2040. It paid EUR 493m (USD 578.2m) on 1 Oct 2020, and CaixaBank booked a EUR 420m capital gain.
  • Dec 2010·acquired by Global Payments — Completed 20 Dec 2010. Global Payments paid la Caixa EUR 125M cash for 51%, a total investment of EUR 128.3M including its share of the EUR 6.4M initial capital. la Caixa kept 49% and agreed a 20-year marketing alliance to refer merchants to Comercia and sponsor it into the card networks (GPN 10-K FY2011). CaixaBank now holds the la Caixa side through CaixaBank Payments & Consumer, and CNMC's C/1229/21 report calls Comercia a joint venture founded in December 2010 by CaixaBank and Global Payments. In 2020 Global Payments paid EUR 493M to raise its stake to 80% (FY2021 10-K). CNMC records that this did not change joint control.

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