Payments

Nexi, US fund Tpg offers 1 billion for digital banking

An answer from the company's board of directors is expected by mid-December. Among the knots to be untangled is that of the infrastructure considered strategic

by Carlo Festa

7 November 2025

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

The assets
The Golden Power node

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

After months of rumours and lengthy negotiations, the US private equity firm Tpg submitted a binding offer of around EUR 1 billion (USD 1.15 billion) for the digital banking solutions unit of the Italian payments group Nexi.

Tpg, which is joined by financial advisors Nomura and Jp Morgan, has given Nexi until mid-December to decide whether to proceed (or not) with the transaction. According to Bloomberg, the offer was communicated to Nexi's board of directors earlier this week.

Nexi itself confirmed the rumours in a note, stating that it had received an offer from Tpg subject to several conditions for the purchase of assets belonging to the digital banking solutions business unit. It now remains to be seen what Nexi's board of directors will decide in the coming days. The digital banking dossier of the Italian fintech has been on the table of big investors for about a year now, but so far no interest has ever materialised.

The assets

Nexi, prior to the entry into the field of the US private equity group Tpg, has already tried in the past to sell some of its digital banking activities. An EUR 800 million deal with F2i in 2023 had been planned. The deal had then fallen through, but Nexi continued to evaluate the sale of these assets, and negotiations were subsequently rekindled with other funds.

The Golden Power Node

But there are still several knots to unravel, despite Tpg's latest offer. These activities, in terms of infrastructure, are largely of a strategic nature and could end up under the government's lens.

The sale to a foreign player might not be easy and would have to be given the green light in terms of golden power, unless an Italian player is also involved in the operation. Already a year and a half ago, rumours had circulated of the involvement of Cdp, already a shareholder of Nexi, in the digital banking operation.

For its part, Nexi has made no secret of the fact that it considers the infrastructure and other assets of the Digital Banking Solutions (Dbs) division, the third largest in the Nexi group, to be transferable at the right price and conditions. In 2023, this division generated EUR 383 million in revenues: Dbs has several areas within it, among which the most strategic remains the interbank network. 208,000 kilometres long, it also connects to the Bank of Italy, the central risk centre and the fraud prevention system.

In the wake of the news, Nexi shot up in Piazza Affari. The stock of the digital payments company accelerated (over 3 per cent) and was for most of the day among the best stocks on the Ftse Mib, only to fall back (+0.1 per cent) to parity at the end of the session.