⁍ Italian payment group Nexi NEXII.MI said on Sunday it would merge with smaller rival SIA.

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⁍ The accord is an all-share deal, with Nexi getting about 70% of the merged company and SIA some 30%.

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⁍ The payment sector has seen a wave of mergers and acquisitions.

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– Italian payment group Nexi is merging with smaller rival SIA to create a digital payments company with a capitalization of $17.6 billion, per Reuters. Nexi and SIA, which is controlled by Italian state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, have been in merger talks for more than a year-and-a-half, but differences over pricing and governance have proved a sticking point. The new company would have proforma aggregated revenues of 1.8 billion euros and adjusted EBITDA of 1.0 billion euros as at Dec. 31, 2019, the statement said. The accord is an all-share deal, with Nexi getting about 70% of the merged company and SIA some 30%, the statement said. SIA shareholders will receive 1.5761 Nexi shares for each SIA share.