J.P. Morgan To Acquire 49% Stake In Viva Wallet

J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM) inked a deal with Viva Wallet Holdings Software Development S.A., to acquire an ownership stake of 49%. The financial terms of the deal have been kept under wraps.

Shares of the American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company have gained 10% over the past year.

Details of the Deal

Headquartered in Athens, Greece, since 2000, Viva Wallet is a leading European cloud-based payments fintech company that focuses on serving Small and Midsize Businesses (SMBs) in 23 countries. Its proprietary, cloud-based payments platform offers a range of value-added services to merchants.

The strategic investment made in Viva Wallet will complement J.P. Morgan’s Payments business enabling it to expand future omnichannel merchant acquiring capabilities for European SMBs, Value-Added Services and Payments Innovation.

Furthermore, it will aid in the development of future international products and services across European SMBs.

The deal, subject to certain regulatory approvals, aligns with J.P. Morgan’s Payments business’ strategic goal to enhance services to global and European clients. Likewise, it recently entered into a partnership deal with Volkswagen Financial Services AG to acquire a controlling interest of around 75% in the auto company’s payments platform.

Management Weighs In

Takis Georgakopoulos, Global Head at J.P. Morgan Payments, commented, “We are very excited to make a strategic investment in Viva Wallet to support their vision to empower new growth and payments innovation targeted at European small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and middle market merchant services clients.”

He further added, “The European payments landscape is fragmented yet large in terms of opportunity, with more than 17 million merchants ready to implement scalable payments solutions and this is a big focus area for added growth for J.P. Morgan Payments in the future.”

Analysts Recommendation

On January 18, Evercore ISI analyst Glenn Schorr maintained a Buy rating on JPMorgan Chase with a price target of $172 (18.7% upside potential).

The rest of the Wall Street community is cautiously optimistic about the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 10 Buys, 7 Holds, and 1 Sell. The JPMorgan price target of $178.39 implies a 24.8% upside potential to current levels.

Bloggers Weigh In

TipRanks data shows that financial blogger opinions are 88% Bullish on JPM stock, compared to a sector average of 71%.

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