Buckaroo acquired by Keensight Capital

Dutch payment service provider Buckaroo has been acquired by Keensight Capital for more than 150 million euros. The acquisition will be finalized in the second quarter of 2022. This is the third time that Buckaroo is sold.

Dutch payments sector

It’s been a turbulent year for Dutch payment providers. In addition to Buckaroo, Pay.nl and Multisafepay were also for sale this year. Dutch bank ING announced that it’s considering stopping with its payments solution Payvision. While last week, Mollie announced the launch of its funds of 1 million euros.

Acquired by Keensight Capital

Buckaroo is one of the larger payment service providers in the Netherlands. It focuses on SME’s within the Benelux and takes care of the complete payment process. It was founded in 2005 and earlier this year it finalized its acquisition of Sisow, another payment provider.

Now, Buckaroo itself is acquired by French private-equity firm Keensight Capital. According to Dutch newspaper FD, the firm is prepared to lay down more than 150 million euros. Buckaroo’s current owner, BlackFin Capital Partners will sell its interest to Keensight Capital, while Buckaroo’s management will keep ownership of part of the shares.

‘Buckaroo has shown that it can keep up with our 20% portfolio growth.’

The private-equity firm invests in technology and healthcare. The funds manages around 2 billion euros, and its portfolio has an average growth of at least 20 percent. “We only focus on growth companies and Buckaroo has shown that it can keep up that growth”, said Investment Manager Arjan Hannink.

Sold for the third time

Buckaroo has now been sold thrice. In 2012, the company was sold to Swedish collection agency Intrum for 11 million euros. And in 2017, BlackFin acquired the company for an unknown amount. Most private-equity funds keep companies in their portfolio for a maximum of 4 years. “The sale didn’t come as a surprise”, said Buckaroo CEO Paul Scholten.

Buckaroo is smaller than competitors in the Netherlands

While 150 million euros is a large amount, it’s small when compared to other companies within the payments sector in the Netherlands. Buckaroo’s competitor Adyen is a listed company, which is worth 74 billion euros. This summer, Mollie was valued at 5.4 billion euros.

According to the FD, Buckaroo’s growth is a lot smaller than that of its competitors due to its focus on the Benelux. Its profit has been decreasing over the last years. In 2017, the company made a profit of 1.5 million euros, which had decreased to just 300.000 euros in 2019.

‘We expect our revenue to reach 25 million euros by the end of 2021.’

The company’s turnover has been somewhat steady at 12 million euros per year. According to Scholten, Buckaroo has doubled its customer base and turnover. “Our revenue is expected to reach 25 million euros by the end of 2021.”