Two crypto competitors from Italia – Nexi and Sia – have merged together in an effort to establish a fintech enterprise, which can stay competitive in an increasingly consolidated European market.

Specifically, the all-share agreement will reportedly provide Nexi with an approximate 70% possession of the freshly merged firm, with an equity value of 4.6 billion euros ($5.4 billion) in SIA possession. 

Nexi’s private equity owners Advent, Bain Capital and Clessidra, will reportedly have ownership of 23% of the freshly established fintech giant. 

Upon the finalization of the merger, the Financial Times had reportedly viewed the development as a sign showing the potential establishment of “one of Europe’s largest fintech groups.”

Nexi has reportedly been jointly working on a major pilot for a blockchain-based interbank system located in Italy 2 years ago. Italy is the primary market Nexi invests its resources into, while SIA reportedly focused on the overseas markets, which helped bring in one-third of its total revenue. 

Nexi and SIA are reportedly both headquartered in Milan, with the discussion process that led to the merger finalization has taken up 18 months, due to reluctance regarding governance terms and valuations. 

Head of Nexi – Paolo Bertoluzzo – reportedly shared that the merger will form “a large Italian PayTech company leader in Europe […] with scale and capabilities to play an increasingly leading role in Italy and at an international level in a market, like the European one, that sees strong consolidation trends.”

The fintech giant will reportedly take care of payment for around 2 million merchants and 120 million cards: more than 21 billion transactions every year.