Shearman & Sterling is advising funds managed by Warburg Pincus on the sale of easycash Group, Germany’s largest payment service provider, to Ingenico S.A., a leading provider of payment solutions.

With a purchase price of €290 million, the transaction is one of the largest private equity deals in Germany this year, and the second German private equity deal completed since the economic crisis began. Closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory review and customary closing conditions.

The exit follows a competitive auction process involving a broad array of both national and international private equity sponsors and strategic investors active in the payment industry.

Shearman & Sterling advised Warburg Pincus already on the acquisition of easycash Group in 2006. Since then Shearman & Sterling accompanied the growth of easycash group. Among others, it advised on the recent acquisition of the German credit card acquiring business from Royal Bank of Scotland.

Warburg Pincus is a leading global private equity firm with currently more than USD 25 billion in assets under management and a highly diversified active portfolio of more than 100 companies.

The Shearman & Sterling team on this deal includes the following attorneys: Partners Roger Kiem (Frankfurt-M&A), Esther Jansen (Frankfurt-European Finance), Hans Jürgen Meyer-Lindemann (Brussels/Düsseldorf-Antitrust) and Johannes Frey (Munich-Tax) as well as counsel Mathias Stöcker (Brussels/Düsseldorf-Antitrust), and Frankfurt based associates Andreas Wieland, Olena Tokman, Patrick Heid, Carola Glasauer (all M&A), Sebastian Cohnen (European Finance) and Bodo Bender (Tax) as well as Annette Keller (Munich-Tax).