Pliezhausen, January 20, 2020. DATAGROUP SE (WKN A0JC8S)  has signed a purchase agreement to acquire 68% of the shares in Diebold Nixdorf Portavis GmbH (Portavis) from Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated on Friday, January 17. DATAGROUP thus massively expands its business with high-quality cloud services and operational IT services in the financial sector.

Portavis has around 200 employees providing IT services to customers in the financial services sector and is expected to generate annual revenue of some EUR 60m. The company mainly serves Hamburger Sparkasse AG, Sparkasse Bremen and Hamburg Commercial Bank on the basis of long-term service agreements. Hamburger Sparkasse and Sparkasse Bremen will retain the remaining 32% stake in Portavis.

“The acquisition is another milestone in the development of DATAGROUP. We have gained a company which is very complementary to the existing activities of DATAGROUP Financial IT Services and brings in highly interesting sector expertise and attractive customer relationships in the challenging financial sector. We expect the acquisition of Portavis to not only yield economies of scale but also lead to a better perception on the market as an important bank-independent provider of operational services for a bank’s IT operations”, comments Max H.-H. Schaber, CEO of DATAGROUP with respect to the majority takeover. “Our acknowledged expertise in the financial sector played a major role in enabling us to prevail against other well-known prospective buyers”, adds Peter Schneck, Management Board member responsible for M&A, legal affairs and investor relations. “DATAGROUP and Portavis complement each other perfectly and can grow faster together. We look forward to continuing DATAGROUP’s success story together with our new colleagues.”

In August 2017, DATAGROUP took the first step towards vertical integration in the financial services industry with the acquisition of ikb Data GmbH, today DATAGROUP Financial IT Services (FIS). For financial groups, operational security as well as reliable and highly secure handling of sensitive data play an extremely important role. The sector’s regulatory supervision is associated with additional requirements. The special expertise of DATAGROUP FIS is documented by numerous relevant certifications, including ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 as well as ISAE 3402.

“The future of the banking sector is digital”, says Andreas Baresel, Chief Production Officer of DATAGROUP. „In a low interest rate environment, electronic banking and mobile payment services provide a means for improving the profitability in the banking world – this also increases the demand for services in the IT sector. At the same time, the increasing regulation of the sector, e.g. the EU’s Payment Services Directive, leads to higher requirements for banks. We assume that we can continue to grow strongly in the banking sector.” 

The transaction comprises 68 % of the shares in Diebold Nixdorf Portavis. The parties have agreed to keep the purchase price confidential at this time. The transaction is subject to approval by the German Federal Cartel Office.

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About DATAGROUP

DATAGROUP is one of the leading German IT service companies. Over 2,800 employees at locations across Germany design, implement, and operate IT infrastructures and business applications such as SAP. With its CORBOX product, DATAGROUP is a full-service provider, supporting over 600k global IT workplaces for medium and large enterprises as well as public authorities. The company is growing organically and through acquisitions. The acquisitions strategy is particularly noted for its optimal integration of new companies. DATAGROUP is actively participating in the IT service market’s consolidation process with its “buy and turn around” and its “buy and build” strategy.