Transactions.

A Portuguese company is in full business expansion to European East, developing its activity on the field of electronic financial transactions. We are talking about PayUp, created in 2007, and already present in Poland, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Bulgaria and negotiating the acquisition of a Spanish network distribution. The company is still not operating in Portugal. PayUp, as Luís Janeiro, its CEO, explained yesterday to a few journalists, develops next to retailers and other sales points, a technological platform that accepts service invoice payments, mobile top-ups or pre-paid services. With a simple terminal installed next to the retailer, this one can receive payment at the same time that can pay the customer any authorized value.

In that sense, PayUp is negotiating with the Treasury General-Management, Social Security and other state entities the possibility of the Government resort to this technological platform to process the pensions and social benefits payments, as Luís Janeiro told us. In case these negotiations are successful, PayUp will have to acquire a distribution network in Portugal. If it succeeds on acquiring the Spanish distribution network in negotiation PayUp gains distribution point in Portugal, since the Spanish company in question is present in our market.

PayUp is hold in 60,5% by a risk capitals fund of Banco Português de Negócios (BPN), having Bank Efisa 19,5% of its capital, wile the 20% left belongs to management. The company, that predicts reaching break-even in 2010, is negotiating the participation of a new shareholder. In 2008, PayUp as registered a business volume of 78 million euros for which as contributed the activity on Poland and Romania, since the ingress on these markets was quite recent.

External expansion

This company of Portuguese capital has as prime goal to expand its activity to new foreign markets. After launching on several countries of Eastern Europe, PayUp is studying its entrance in Brazil, after already having an operation in progress in Cape Verde. Turquy is another of the markets were the company is already preparing implementation, with local partner, developing at the same time projects in Argelia, United Arab Emirates and Morocco.