Payment Processor Equens Becomes Societas Europaea

    UTRECHT, the Netherlands, July 17 /EMWNews/ --



    - Societas Europaea (SE) Reflects European Ambitions of Equens



    Today, Equens - one of the largest payment processors in Europe - was

transformed into a Societas Europaea and became Equens SE. This legal form

is in line with Equens' ambitions and positioning as a truly European

player within the European payments market. The new company is the result

of the legal mergers of Equens Nederland B.V. and the German Equens

Deutschland AG into the holding Equens N.V., followed by the conversion

into a Societas Europaea.



    As a result of the finalised co-determination process associated with

the formation of an SE, Equens will establish an SE Works Council and

thereby implement a stable and future-orientated international

co-determination regime. The existing two-tier governance structure with

Supervisory Board and Board of Directors will remain unchanged. The SE

conversion will lead to cost savings at operative level. Equens is the

first significant operational SE in the Netherlands. Other prominent

examples of SEs in Europe are Allianz, BASF, Fresenius, Porsche and

Strabag.



    A Societas Europaea, also referred to as 'Europe Inc.' or 'Europa AG'

is a legal form under the laws of the European Union. Since the end of

2004, this legal form permits internationally operating companies like

Equens to transform into European public limited-liability companies, which

are governed by a largely uniform European body of law based on an EU

directive.



    Dr Gotz Moller, a member of Equens' Board of Directors: "We are glad

that we have taken the next step towards achieving our European ambition.

It is a logical move after the successful operative integration of the -

until now - separate legal entities in Germany and the Netherlands. This

new legal form is in line with our European strategy to further improve our

strong position through internal optimisation, as well as national and

international partnerships, in order to further reduce the costs per

transaction. With an explicit growth strategy Equens aims to maintain a top

position in the European payments industry."






    The two-tier governance structure of Equens SE consists of:



    Equens Supervisory Board



    E. Dralans, ING Groep (Chairman)

    G. Roth, DZ BANK (Deputy Chairman)

    Dr J.J. Bos, Rabobank Nederland

    M.C.A. Buitenhek, ING Groep

    C. Defrancq, KBC Groep

    Dr. J.J. Kamp, ABN AMRO Bank

    H. Op den Brouw, Rabobank Nederland

    J. Riecke, DZ BANK (nominated)

    R.Teerlink, ABN AMRO Bank



    Equens Board of Directors



    M. Steinbach (Chairman)

    A. Kuijpers, MBT (Deputy Chairman)

    Dr. G. Moller

    J. Sonneveld



    Editorial note



    Equens SE is the first truly pan-European, full-service payment

processor. As one of the largest and most innovative payment processors in

Europe, Equens is leading the market for future-proof payments and card

processing solutions. Thanks to an extensive and competitive service

portfolio and a flexible, customer-orientated approach, the company

seamlessly meets the requirements of the European payments market. With an

annual volume of 7.3 billion payments and 2.1 billion POS and ATM

transactions, Equens has a market share of more than 15% within the euro

zone. By continuously pursuing further growth and translating the achieved

synergy benefits and economies of scale into advantages for the customer,

the company contributes to the efficiency of European payments.



    For additional information, please visit http://www.equens.com