Crédit Agricole becomes 7% shareholder in French fintech Worldline
The French bank wants to support the growth of the company, which has been weakened for months, and enable it to implement its strategy as a “leading European player in the payments market”.
A strong act to restore the damaged confidence among investors. Crédit Agricole Group has acquired a 7% stake in the capital of French payment services specialist Worldline, which has been under strong pressure for several months. “This operation demonstrates the group’s willingness to support Worldline’s growth » mentions the bank in its press release. With this operation, Crédit agricole becomes the second largest shareholder in Worldline, behind Six Group (10.6%) and ahead of Bpifrance (4.4%).
After the disastrous end of 2023 there was an urgent need to remedy the situation for the French champion of payment services. Last fall, two severe outages blocked thousands of bank card payments at several major brands within weeks of each other. Crucially, in October, the company warned that it would not meet its growth targets for 2023, sending its stock down 60%…