Clearhaus

Transaction Summary

In an agreement signed early January 2021, the shareholders of Clearhaus sold their company to Unzer group, the fast-growing international payments company backed by KKR. Together with Quickpay, the combined sale is the largest exit in Danish Fintech history.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark, Clearhaus provides simple, highly innovative, and straightforward acquiring services to European online merchants. In 2019 Clearhaus spun out the 3-D Secure and PSD2 SCA provider 3descure.io, which is also a part of the transaction.

The acquisition is expected to complete in Q2, 2021, pending regulatory approvals. Until then, the company will continue to operate as an independent organization.

Overview of Clearhaus

Clearhaus is a financial institution and a European licensed acquirer supporting more than 17,000 online businesses in 33 countries with simple and secure solutions at competitive prices.

Clearhaus has in a short time gained market share among European acquirers and continues to add innovative features that make payment smoother and more effortless.

Overview of 3dsecure.io

3dsecure.io offers a state-of-the-art 3-D Secure SaaS which is free to sign up for and test. With 3dsecure.io, every PSP can fight fraud and ensure a seamless checkout experience for merchants and card-holders around the world.

Corestar Partners’ Role

Corestar Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to the shareholders of Clearhaus and 3dsecure.io. It designed and executed a bespoke and competitive process to ensure the best possible outcome for the Clearhaus founders and team.

This transaction underlines Corestar Partners’ #1 position as Europe’s undisputed M&A advisory market leader in the payment service sector and furthermore highlights Corestar Partners’ leading position in European Fintech M&A.

The sale of Clearhaus and 3dsecure.io represents Corestar Partners’ 32nd transaction in the European Fintech sector. The long list includes advisory mandates to Paysafe Group, Tillhub, Borgun, Sipay, Heidelpay, Vibbek, mPAY24, PCS, Simplepay, HiPay, Concardis, Sofort, and Klarna, among others.