Mobile financial provider Monitise plans to expand into the Middle East

Monitise has acquired Turkish mobile money outfit Pozitron Yazilim in an all share deal which could be worth up to £60 million. Monitise is paying an initial £24 million through the issuance of nearly 36 million new shares and could fork over up to another £36 million in cash or shares over the next three years if performance-related targets are met.

U.K.-based mobile financial provider Monitise announced Monday that it has purchased Turkey-based mobile technology company Pozitron Yazilim, which is focused on its home country and the rest of the Middle East. The move, for $100 million in an all-share deal, gives the growing Monitise a new foothold in that region. Monitise group chief executive Alastair Lukies said in a statement that Turkey, Europe, and the Middle East are “seeing increasing demand for interoperable mobile money services as payments become more digital by the day.” He added that the acquisition “further reinforces our leading position as a global technology enabler.” In 2012, Monitise bought U.S.-based mobile banking provider Clairmail, assisting its expansion into North America.