On Oct. 5, Nexi SpA and SIA SpA signed a memorandum of understanding in which they and their reference shareholders agreed to incorporate SIA into Nexi. We anticipate that the combined group will benefit from broader product diversification across the whole payments value chain, increased scale, and synergies, as well as better leverage after the transaction closes. We are placing our 'BB-' issuer and issue ratings on Nexi on CreditWatch with positive implications. We intend to resolve the CreditWatch placement once we have confirmation that the parties have finalized the merger agreement and received shareholder, regulatory, and antitrust approvals. The CreditWatch placement follows Italian payment services company Nexi's announcement on Oct. 5, 2020, that it had signed a memorandum of
