Atos, an international IT services company, has acquired Quality Equipment, a player in electronic payments in the Netherlands.

The acquisition followed a fruitful 15-year partnership with Quality Equipment, during which Atos benefited from continuous payment services and leveraged the wide payment services portfolio it offered to its customers.

As per the deal, Quality Equipment will be integrated into Atos Worldline, Atos core expertise in Hi-Tech Transactional Services (HTTS) and electronic payments.

The acquisition is intended to reinforce the roll out of Atos Global Payment strategy by value added services to its current acquiring and terminals portfolio in the Benelux, increase its sales force and expertise and offer innovative services to merchants.

It is also expected to enable Atos grow market shares for terminal activity as well as acquiring business, and become the leader in terms of terminals and merchants services in the Netherlands with an end-to-end coverage.

The acquisition will lead to building of a European competence centre for value added services for merchants.

Atos executive vice president of Hi-Tech Transactional Services Marc-Henri Desportes said this transaction is fully in line with the strategy of the Group to grow its HTTS activities and to strengthen its international position in the payments area.

"Atos acquires a company in its core business located in the Benelux where the Group is already working with large customers, and has a leading market position. We will be able to offer value added services with an enriched payment services portfolio to our customers in the Benelux and across Europe," Desportes added.

Quality Equipment produces systems for payment, identification, access management and is an all-in-one supplier of PIN terminals for various applications.