LHV Group set to acquire Estonian paytech EveryPay

Banking and financial services firm LHV Group is set to acquire fellow Estonian company EveryPay as part of its strategy to expand into payments services.

EveryPay handles approximately 70% of all Estonian online card transactions

LHV says it has “concluded a contract” for the deal in which it will acquire all the shares in EveryPay for €8 million. The firm describes the deal as a “share exchange transaction”, where EveryPay shareholders in turn will receive new shares issued by LHV Group.

The final decision on whether to go ahead with the transaction will be made on 30 March 2022, at LHV’s general meeting of shareholders.

The purchase price and the conditions for increasing share capital, a prerequisite of the agreement, will be announced to the shareholders of LHV Group with the notice calling the general meeting.

EveryPay is a payment gateway platform that connects banks and e-commerce companies with modern payment methods, such as card payments and open banking payments.

The firm also offers automatic payments, mass payments, standing payments and LinkPay payments.

The paytech claims approximately 70% of Estonian online card transactions are made through EveryPay and it processes over 15 million payments, totalling more than €800 million, every year.

Founders Joel Mitt and Lauri Teder will continue working for EveryPay post-acquisition.

LHV wants to move into e-commerce, which it sees as a rapidly growing segment. The company believes that developing its own payments gateway to a similar technological and security specification to EveryPay would require “significant” financial and development resources.

LHV Group CEO Madis Toomsalu says growing its payment services business has become an important part of LHV’s growth strategy.

“Payment collection business related to e-commerce, such as online card payments and open banking payments, are rapidly increasing in terms of the Estonian retail banking segment,” Toomsalu adds.

Post-acquisition, LHV contends that the volume of payments intermediated by EveryPay will increase six times over in five years, with fee and commission income increasing by 18 times in the same period.

Additionally, LHV says that from 2023, the company will be able to generate a profit every year, which is estimated to reach €7.5 million by 2026.