Deutsche Telekom takes over ClickandBuy

Deutsche Telekom has acquired the remaining shares in the Internet payment service provider Firstgate. Through its venture capital company, T-Venture, Deutsche Telekom has held shares in Firstgate, best known for the ClickandBuy brand, since 2006 and currently owns 20.2 percent of the shares. Deutsche Telekom has now taken advantage of majority shareholders’ willingness to sell and acquired the remaining shares. The agreement was signed. Part of the acquired shares are held by Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment organisation, which played a key role in the company’s development. The supervisory bodies of the companies concerned and the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) have already approved the transaction.

By acquiring Firstgate, Deutsche Telekom is positioning itself as one of the leading providers of online payment solutions. This step contributes to the implementation of the Deutsche Telekom Group strategy by expanding the portfolio in high-growth Internet business.

Firstgate is one of the world’s leading providers of Internet payment services, with 13 million registered users, 16,000 associated retailers and business operations in 31 countries worldwide. The company currently has 229 employees. Firstgate will be operated in future as an independent subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG. The current management team will continue its successful work and the strong ClickandBuy brand will remain.

About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the leading integrated telecommunications companies worldwide with more than 151 million mobile customers, more than 38 million fixed-network lines and more than 15 million broadband lines (as at: December 31, 2009). Its product brands are called T-Home (fixed-network telephony, broadband Internet), T-Mobile (mobile communication) and T-Systems (ICT solutions). As an international group of companies in around 50 countries throughout the world with almost 260,000 employees (as at: December 31, 2009), Deutsche Telekom generated more than half of its revenues of EUR 64.6 billion outside Germany in 2009.

About ClickandBuy
ClickandBuy is one of the leading payment services in the internet. Certified by McAfee and tested by Germany’s Technical Inspection and Testing Association (TÜV), this online payment system is used for internet purchases by over 13 million people. Having doubled its turnover generated by traders and end customers to EUR 922 million (TTV) in 2008, the ClickandBuy Group first crossed the billion euro threshold in 2009.
Over 16,000 online traders use ClickandBuy’s e payment system for their e commerce, retail, online entertainment, and paid content & services billing, including Deutsche Telekom, Scout24 Group, Apple iTunes, Napster, Orange, msn, AOL, Meetic, Parship, Electronic Arts (EA), Codemasters, McAfee, Panda, RTL, Playboy, Financial Times Deutschland, Foto.com, Deutsche Boerse Group, KPMG, Yamaha, Digital River, Redcoon, bonprix (Otto Group).
Founded in 1999, ClickandBuy represents over 10 years of experience and expertise in the e-payment market. The online payment system is operated by ClickandBuy International Ltd. in London. As an e-money institution licensed by the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), ClickandBuy’s complete service includes 120 currencies and offers 50 national and international modes of payment throughout 31 countries.