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Wirecard headquarters in Aschheim, Bavaria
Photo: Peter Kneffel / DPA
The US holding company Syncapay has bought the North American business of the insolvent payment service provider Wirecard.
According to the "Süddeutscher Zeitung", the shares in Wirecard North America brought in more than 300 million euros.
However, the debt of the payment processor is more than ten times that.
Insolvency administrator Michael Jaffé called the sale an "important milestone in the realization of Wirecard AG's assets in the best interests of the creditors".
The supervisory authorities still have to approve the sale.
Wirecard North America sells prepaid credit cards that work on a credit basis.
They are one of several dozen small subsidiaries in the group.
According to the information, the company is one of the market leaders and, according to the annual report, achieved a profit of 7 million euros in 2018.
The company previously belonged to Citibank and was only taken over by the German payment service provider in 2016.
The subsidiary was never properly integrated into the rest of the Wirecard business - in the event of bankruptcy, extensive independence turns out to be an advantage.
The insolvency administrator succeeded in selling another major Wirecard subsidiary abroad.
In August, the Brazilian subsidiary went to the payment service provider PagSeguro, which is listed on the US technology exchange Nasdaq.
Investigations into alleged fraud in the billions
The Munich I public prosecutor's office is investigating alleged fraud involving billions against the former board members of the group.
Wirecard filed for bankruptcy at the end of June.
The company from Aschheim near Munich is said to have falsified its balance sheets for years.
A total of 1.9 billion euros, which should be in accounts in Asia, cannot be found.
The downfall of the former Dax group has shaken the financial world.
The auditing company EY had audited Wirecard's annual accounts for years and now has to justify itself.
The financial supervisory authority Bafin has also come into focus of the scandal.
Employees speculated on shares in Wirecard, the company they were supposed to be monitoring.
An investigative committee of the Bundestag is dealing with the Wirecard scandal.
According to the "Süddeutscher Zeitung", Wirecard's debts amount to a total of 3.2 billion euros.
According to the newspaper, the sale of the core business is currently pending, which should also bring in a three-digit million amount.
The main creditors are the house banks and several investors.
The major Spanish bank Santander and the British Lycamobile are traded as promising bidders.
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kim / AFP / dpa / Reuters
