Advent International, one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors, completed the acquisition of the remaining 49% stake in Prisma Medios de Pago from Banco Santander and BBVA for $350m.

Finanzas & Gestión, our Partner in Argentina, advised Advent International in this transaction.

Prisma Medios de Pago is the leading payments company in Argentina and one of the largest in Latin America. Within Argentina, it is the No. 1 player in merchant acquiring, offering point-of-sale rental (LaPOS), e-commerce gateway (Decidir), transaction processing and other value-added services to all types of merchants throughout the country. The company is also the No.1 player in payments processing, No. 1 in electronic bill payments (Pagomiscuentas) and the No. 2 ATM operator (Banelco), serving major banks nationwide. Outside Argentina, Prisma Medios de Pago offers issuer and merchant-acquiring processing services to clients in 14 countries across Latin America.

Through its newest brand, TodoPago, the company is the No. 2 player in peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions, offering e-wallet, mobile point-of-sale (mPOS), Quick Response (QR) code payment solutions and e-commerce transactions to merchants.

Prisma Medios de Pago is Advent International’s sixth investment in Argentina and eighth investment in the payments sector globally since 2008. The transaction was led by an Advent team comprising local market and payments sector experts across six offices, including São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Boston, New York and London.

Prisma Medios de Pago is the leading player in a market poised for strong growth driven by the increasing penetration of electronic payments in Argentina - said Juan Pablo Zucchini, a Managing Partner at Advent International in São Paulo. We look forward to working with the management team and other shareholders to accelerate the company’s development by investing in next-generation products and services and exploring international expansion opportunities.