(Reuters). -Worldline bought a controlling interest in ANZ’s business of commercial acquiring, completing the formation of a joint venture at 51%-49% that it will own, France payments company announced Friday.

Worldline announced the alliance in December 2020. It said that it is a “unique opportunity” to grow its merchant acquisition business beyond Europe.

Merchant acquisition involves the collection of card-based payments that have been approved by retailers.

Worldline stated at that time that the enterprise worth of the company was 925 million Australian dollar ($691 million).

Headquartered at Melbourne, ANZ’s commercial acquiring division is Australia’s third-largest payment acceptance and acquiring company with a 20% share of all transaction volumes.

Worldline stated that the Australian market is a promising growth area because of the switch from cash to cards. They pointed to high levels of adoption of electronic payments and consumers using contactless wallets and contactless cards.

Worldline projects that over the next five-years, the joint-venture will bring in additional revenue of 180 million euros ($199 millions) each year and an operating profit of about 20% prior to depreciation or amortisation.

($1 = 1.3382 Australian dollars)

($1 = 0.9041 euros)