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EML Payments has acquired 74.9 per cent of Irish fintech Perfectcard DAC (Perfectcard) for AUD$9.5 million.
Perfectcard is an authorised eMoney institution providing incentive and corporate expense solutions regulated by the Irish Central Bank.
Australian listed payments solutions provider EML expects Perfectcard to generate earnings of $400,000-600,000 in FY19 after integration costs.
The Irish regulator first needs to approve EML as a majority shareholder before the acquisition can go through, but EML expects the approval to be granted in the coming months.
Notwithstanding the approval process, EML says it will consolidate Perfectcard into its financial results from 4 July 2018.
EML says the acquisition of Perfectcard will allow the listed company to consolidate processes and expand its reach into the European sector.
"Having an Irish eMoney licence allows EML to self-issue regulated payment products across the European Union without the need for external third party bin sponsors, and [will provide] our customers with greater regulatory certainty," says EML.
"Perfectcard provides EML with an excellent corporate expense and corporate incentive solution that we can grow in our existing geographies."
EML intends to merge the Perfectcard shopping mall business into EML Europe which will remove duplication of costs and processes for its European business.
Established in 2006, Perfectcard was founded by Nikki Evans to provide gift cards to Irish shopping malls. In 2010, the company expanded its suite of products to include employee reward tools.
More recently, Perfectcard launched Pecan, a company expense tool that allows companies to manage budgets in real time. The product comes with a payment card, an app, and a cloud-based management platform.
Perfectcard was the first company to be awarded an eMoney licence from the Central Bank of Ireland in 2015 and remains one of only two companies in the world to have an Irish eMoney licence.
EML says Evans will remain in her role at Perfectcard and will assume responsibility for EML European Issuing.
Shares in EML closed on Wednesday at $1.47 per share.
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