Our Digital Payments coverage is brought you by Chillr: India’s 1st multi-Bank instant mobile payment app enabling fund transfers to anyone in your phonebook. German payments company Wirecard has bought Great Indian Retail Group's for 230 million euros ($254 million) in a cash deal. The development was first reported by Reuters. Accordingly, Wirecard will acquire 100% of the shares from Great Indian Retail Group and financial investors of companies operating payment services in India, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. In addition, Wirecard also bought 60% of the shares in GI Technology (GIT), a subsidiary which has a prepaid payments instrument licence from the Reserve Bank of India. Wirecard will take over more than 900 employees in offices out of Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai,Kolkata, Lucknow, Manila, Batam and Kuala Lumpur. Further payments of up to a total of 110 million Euros are linked to the overall financial performance of the acquired businesses in calendar years 2015 to 2017 Wirecard expects that Great Indian Retail Group's businesses are expected to achieve EBITDA of more than 7 million euros this year and up to 18 million euros next year after integration costs. Great Indian Retail Group's saw sales of 45 million euros this year, and expects this to increase to more than 75 million in 2016. What Great Indian Retail Group does GI Retail operates the brands “iCASHCARD”, “Smartshop”, “StarGlobal”, “Commerce Payment” in the four countries it is present. iCASHCARD, is a semi-closed-loop electronic wallet issued by GI Technology and claims to serve 20,000 people daily.…
