Country for PR: United Kingdom
Contributor: PR Newswire Europe
Wednesday, September 18 2019 - 17:02
AsiaNet
Wirecard AG: Wirecard and SoftBank Formalize Strategic Cooperation Agreement
ASCHHEIM, Germany Sept 18 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

    Wirecard AG (Wirecard) and a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. (SoftBank) 
have signed the final documents for the issue and subscription of the Wirecard 
convertible bond and the strategic cooperation agreement, in each case 
following Wirecard's shareholder approval and the execution of the term sheet 
and memorandum of understanding between Wirecard and the SoftBank subsidiary on 
24 April 2019. 

    Under the terms of the bond purchase agreement, and in accordance with the 
approval of Wirecard's shareholders at its Annual General Meeting on 18 June 
2019, convertible bonds with a total nominal value of EUR 900,000,000.00 
combined with conversion rights to a total of 6,923,076 shares in Wirecard 
(corresponding to around 5.6 % of Wirecard's current share capital) will be 
issued to the SoftBank subsidiary excluding shareholders' subscription rights. 
The bonds have a five-year term. The capital proceeds will support Wirecard in 
its continued investment in innovative payment and financial services, for the 
repayment of existing loans and for potential share buyback programs. 

    The strategic partnership provided for in the cooperation agreement will 
facilitate both companies to pursue global growth opportunities and synergy 
effects, including through the SoftBank ecosystem in the fields of digital 
financial services, data analysis and artificial intelligence, as well as 
SoftBank's support of Wirecard's planned geographic expansion into Japan and 
South Korea. The joint development of innovative financing solutions has also 
been identified as a potential area for collaboration. 

    The ambitious goals arising from the strategic cooperation with the 
SoftBank subsidiary are already pursued. Wirecard has already announced global 
partnerships with AUTO1 Group, Brightstar and OYO. The innovative and global 
orientation of both partners provides an extensive pipeline of collaboration 
and business opportunities with a number of active discussions already underway 
across the SoftBank ecosystem.

    About Wirecard: 

    Wirecard (GER:WDI) is one of the world's fastest growing digital platforms 
in the area of financial commerce. We provide both business customers and 
consumers with a constantly expanding ecosystem of real-time value-added 
services built around innovative digital payments by using an integrated B2B2C 
approach. This ecosystem concentrates on the areas payment & risk, retail & 
transaction banking, loyalty & couponing, data analytics & conversion rate 
enhancement in all sales channels (online, mobile, ePOS). Wirecard operates 
regulated financial institutions in several key markets and holds issuing and 
acquiring licenses from all major payment and card networks. Wirecard AG is 
listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (DAX and TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060). 
Visit us on www.wirecard.com, follow us on Twitter @wirecard and on Facebook 
@wirecardgroup.

    Wirecard contact:
    Iris Stöckl, 
    VP IR/ Corp. Comm.
    Tel.: +49 (0) 89-4424-1424
    Email: iris.stoeckl@wirecard.com 
    ISIN DE0007472060
    Reuters: WDI.GDE
    Bloomberg: WDI GY


    Source: Wirecard AG