Norton Rose Fulbright advises HPS on acquisition of ICPS

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised HPS, a leading innovative payment solutions company listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, on the acquisition of all the shares of ICPS. ICPS is a service provider for processing payment transactions held by the Mauritius Commercial Bank Group (MCB), the main Mauritian bank.

The transaction is pending the usual conditions precedent in such matters in addition to required regulatory authorizations. 

Founded in 2008, ICPS is a subsidiary of the MCB Group (80 percent of the capital) in partnership with HPS (20 percent of the capital). Its activity spans 22 countries in Africa and Asia and covers 10 million transactions per month via more than 6 million cards, more than 600 ATMs and more than 11,000 sale points.

With this acquisition, HPS intends to position itself as a leading payment player in Africa by consolidating its offer and extending its presence on the continent to more than 30 countries.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by corporate M&A partner Alain Malek and included counsel Anne-Laure Bernard-Bouissières and associate Fatima Arrazki. Partner Nadège Martin and associate Geoffroy Coulouvrat advised on IP and IT matters. 

In January, Norton Rose Fulbright advised HPS on its previous external growth operation with the acquisition of IPRC, a company in charge of managing 5,500 ATMs on behalf of around 30 banks in Morocco and Africa.