Visa Inc completes Visa Europe acquisition

The deal values Visa Europe at 18.37 billion euros in the unification of the brand globally after eight years as separate entities.

The combined, global company provides digital payment products, services and processing to about 17,100 financial institution clients and partners, more than 40 million merchant outlets and 3 billion Visa accounts worldwide, it said, adding that Visa–branded cards and payment products enabled approximately $6.8 trillion in global payments volume annually. 

Visa Inc.’s board of directors also appointed Gary A. Hoffman, CEO of Hastings Group, as a board member of Visa Inc., according to the statement. 

He is currently a director and chairman of Visa Europe. 

“It is exciting to be part of the next chapter in the Visa story. Visa Europe has performed strongly as a business and combining with Visa Inc. will provide European clients with greater access to the global scale, additional innovation resources and [the] range of capabilities necessary to continue to offer the best payment services to their customers,” said Hoffman.