Ogone, specialist in the online
support of payment services, has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of
ownership of Tunz.com, pioneer in mobile payment, and signs a strategic
agreement with telecom, IT & media specialist Belgacom to further
cultivate their collaboration.
This
acquisition of Tunz.com enables the Ogone group to offer henceforth all
the services for which a license as an e-money institution or a payment
services provider is required in the European Union. In addition to its
existing portfolio, the Ogone group will thus be able to provide
numerous international financial services to its e-merchants (more than
35,000 worldwide) looking to sell cross-border with just one simple contract as well as to offer a
complete end to end environment for mobile payment.
Ogone, Tunz.com and Belgacom Group
- who had a 40% stake in Tunz.com and is a longtime partner of Ogone -
have signed a strategic agreement in which Ogone acquires 100% of
ownership of Tunz.com and which states that the three companies will
further develop their cooperation in the domain of electronic &
mobile payments. With Tunz.com, the Ogone platform now includes a
regulated e-money institution.
The acquisition is of strategic value to Ogone’s continuous
expansion, increasing both its breadth of services and its geographical
reach. It will allow the e-merchant clients of this leading provider of
payment solutions to enhance their cross border sales significantly. Not
only will they avoid the administrative hassle of opening foreign
accounts and organizing contracts with several acquirers, Ogone offers
them more than 80 different international payment methods with now just
one
simple contract, opening them to millions of consumers at once.
The takeover is also inspired by the powerful mobile rise in the
current e-payment market and Ogone’s subsequent continuous search for
ways to enrich its range of solutions. Via Tunz.com Ogone will thus be
able to provide a complete end to end environment for mobile payment to
banks and mobile operators, as well as support online merchants who want
to create and store funds in virtual wallets.
“Now is the time to invest in bullet proof innovative mobile
e-payment solutions. Our choice to acquire Tunz.com was therefore a
natural one, seeing that it has a solid track record in the matter and
it also provides one-stop solutions for financial services, both of
which will represent tremendous added value to our trusted clients. A
great example is its successful co-development in Belgium with Belgacom
on PingPing, Belgacom’s brand of mobile payment, that allows consumers
to pay for public transport, postal services, web services, vending
machines, selected enterprise restaurants, etc.”, explains Peter De Caluwe, CEO of Ogone.
“Joining our forces with Ogone, which is one of the leading
specialists in technological online payment solutions in Europe and
whose offer is perfectly complementary with ours, will not only enhance
the reach of our services, but will strengthen our activities as well as
open the way for future developments to improve the comfort of online
consumers everywhere in the world”, adds Jan Van Wijnendaele, Managing Director of Tunz.com...
“The agreement with Ogone will consolidate our successful
partnership of these last three years and allow us to continue to expand
our services”, concludes Bart Van Den Meersche, Executive
Vice-President Enterprise Business Unit at Belgacom. “Both leaders in
our market segment, we have a mutual understanding about the growing
need for intuitive and efficient mobile payments for services and for
physical purchases. Belgacom and Ogone, through the agreement with
Tunz.com,
are partnering to enrich our technological mobile payment solutions for
consumers and merchants. The potential of today’s mobile payment
services in terms of users and applications is huge.”
It is promising to witness such a constructive synergy in the heart
of the European Union which is currently so much investing in the
digital agenda. This three-way achievement can only benefit the
e-commerce industry and its end customers.
In accordance with the current legislation, the deal will become effective upon approval by the National Bank of Belgium.
