First Data to Acquire Austrian Payment Systems Services

VIENNA, Austria – First Data Corp., a global leader in electronic commerce and payment services, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Austrian Payment Systems Services GmbH (APSS), Austria’s leading processor of cashless, card-based payment transactions. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

APSS provides the country’s banking industry with debit and credit card issuing and acquiring processing, as well as card network operations and terminals and ATM processing. The acquisition by First Data will enable the company to broaden its service offering to its banking clients, while supporting First Data’s continued expansion in the fast growing markets of Central and Eastern Europe.

David Yates, President, Europe, Middle East and Africa, First Data International, said: “We are very pleased that APSS’ shareholders have selected First Data. APSS is an excellent complement to our current European business and fits perfectly within our strategy of expansion across Central and Eastern Europe. We are committed to the Austrian market, which offers significant growth potential in its card business, and we look forward to working with the APSS management and staff to further develop the business and offer leading electronic processing solutions to the company’s highly valued clients.”

Herbert Legradi, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of APSS added: “First Data and APSS are a perfect match. First Data’s commitment to the region and extensive track record in acquiring and successfully integrating payment processing companies make the company a uniquely qualified partner for APSS. By combining APSS’ dedicated management team and technical proficiency with First Data’s global resources and deep payment processing expertise, the company will be well positioned to provide its clients with an even broader service and product offering that is tailored specifically to the Austrian market.”

Under the terms of the agreement, APSS’ headquarters will remain in Austria and the company will continue to manage its relationships with Austrian banks locally. The acquisition complements First Data’s expansion during 2004 into Greece and, this year, into Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Serbia, Montenegro, Russia, Hungary and the Nordic region.

Completion of the transaction, which is expected to occur in the fourth quarter, is subject to approvals by the relevant Austrian authorities.

CAIB Corporate Finance acted as financial advisor to First Data. Raiffeisen Investment AG and CDI Beteiligungsberatung GmbH acted as financial advisors to Austrian Payment Systems Services.