Carlyle Cardinal Ireland, a private equity fund established by The Carlyle Group, has announced that Payzone, one of Ireland's largest providers of payment solutions, will be acquired in a newly formed joint venture by AIB Group PLC, a provider of commercial banking services, and First Data Corp., a merchant services acquirer.

The joint venture will acquire a majority stake in Payzone from existing shareholders, including Carlyle Cardinal Ireland Fund, for an enterprise value of up to 100 million euros ($112.52 million).

CCI acquired a majority shareholding in Payzone in March 2015 and has worked closely with the company since to diversify the business and expand it to become a multichannel payments provider.  

Payzone tech solutions enable Irish businesses of any size to accept payments in store, on the road, over the phone, and through a website or app, according to the release. The company said it processes 125 million transactions annually for more than 100 client companies and operates Ireland's largest retail payments network with more than 11,500 points of sale throughout the country. 

The change in ownership will have no impact on the day-to-day business operations of Payzone in Ireland. The senior management team, including Jim Deignan, CEO and Nigel Bell, CFO, will remain in their roles.  

"This development is a positive step for Payzone and a vote of confidence in the future of the business," Deignan said in the release. "We see significant opportunity to grow our footprint in the fintech sector and this can only be enhanced further with the backing and support of our new shareholders, who bring deep industry expertise to make things happen. The team at Carlyle Cardinal Ireland, which originally invested in Payzone in 2015, has worked very successfully with us to help develop the business and to support our continued growth. We thank them for their great support and investment over that period."

CCI representatives Peter Garvey and Robert Easton of The Carlyle Group and Daragh Lane of Cardinal Capital Group will step down from the Payzone Board on completion of the transaction, which is subject to approval from the European and Irish competition authorities.