Optimal Payments Plc (LSE AIM: OPAY, “Optimal Payments” or the “Group”), a leading global online payment solutions provider, announces the acquisition of Montreal-based mobile platform developer FANS Entertainment Inc. (“FANS”) for a consideration of C$16 million (approx. US$13 million), payable to the vendors by issuing shares in a subsidiary of Optimal Payments (the “Consideration Shares”) which are exchangeable on a one-for-one basis into shares of Optimal Payments over the next three years, a portion of which are subject to the satisfaction of certain financial performance criteria. The total number of Consideration Shares issued to the vendors was 3,163,633.
The FANS Platform is a fully-integrated solution which helps venues and content providers engage their fans while monetising these services. It is a white-label, multi-level mobile wallet system including a management software and analytics suite, as well as operational and public apps. It can identify users based on mobile behaviour, providing invaluable consumption metrics. The company’s platform has been successfully implemented at the Bell Centre in Montreal, one of the highest-traffic venues in the world with more than 1.5 million spectators annually.
FANS provides the Group with a proven technology platform and an experienced management team that will remain in place, led by Benoit Fredette, founder and CEO of FANS. FANS has leading clients in the sports and entertainment sectors in Canada including the Montreal Canadiens, and other high-profile venues and events. The acquisition further strengthens Optimal Payments’ position in the mobile sector of the online payments industry and also provides an entry point into the events market.
“We have been looking for an acquisition to enhance mobile expertise such as the FANS Platform that complements our existing services for some time, and to find the ideal technology and team here on our doorstep in Montreal is fantastic. Through FANS, Optimal Payments will be able to offer innovative value-added mobile payment services globally to customers and merchants in all of our vertical markets,” said Joel Leonoff, president and CEO, Optimal Payments. “We will be able to build on its mobile technology and accelerate Optimal Payments’ growth as an industry leading mobile payments provider.”
About FANS Entertainment Inc.
Founded in 2011, FANS Entertainment Inc. is a Montreal-based firm specializing in mobile technology development for venues, arenas and to enhance the overall fan experience around events. The company also offers consulting services to sports teams, artists, promoters and festivals around the world to help them develop their fan engagement strategy. The early research that led to the creation of FANS was performed through field projects at Harvard University. The company’s platform has been successfully implemented at the Bell Centre, one of the highest-traffic venues in the world with more than 1.5 million spectators annually. More information is available at www.fansentertainment.com
About Optimal Payments Plc
Optimal Payments is a global provider of online payment solutions, trusted by businesses and consumers in over 200 countries and territories to move and manage billions of dollars each year. Merchants use the NETBANX® platform and services to simplify how they accept credit and debit card, direct-from-bank, and alternative and local payments; and the NETELLER® service to increase revenues and capture new customers. Consumers use the multi-lingual and multi-currency NETELLER® and Net+® Card stored-value offering to make secure and convenient payments. In addition, Optimal Payments Card Services, another division of Optimal Payments, provides innovative prepaid products and services to merchants. Optimal Payments Plc is quoted on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM, with a ticker symbol of OPAY. Subsidiary company Optimal Payments Ltd is authorised and regulated as an e-money issuer by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 900015).