Mastercard is looking to divest much of the real-time payments business it acquired from Denmark’s Nets Group in 2019 for approximately $3.2B, its largest acquisition at the time, as competitive and regulatory pressures in European instant payments have weighed on the unit’s economic returns, according to the Financial Times. The potential divestiture comes as Mastercard simultaneously moves deeper into digital assets, including its anticipated acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK at a valuation of up to $1.8B, with the Nets sale expected to free up capital to accelerate that strategy. Mastercard has framed its broader direction as a “multi-rail” approach that increasingly integrates on-chain payment capabilities, cross-border treasury, and stablecoin settlement alongside its traditional card network.
