The Urdorf based vendor and manufacturer of electronic payments solutions and terminals, 3C Systems, has been acquired by Telekurs, the major Swiss player in payments processing and financial information, according to the newswire AFX.

Fifteen year-old 3C employs 160 people and has a turnover of SFr40 million. Its current CEO, Ruedi Denier, will continue to run the company as a division of the larger firm. No information was provided by either firm on the size of transaction.

Telekurs, which had an operating income of some SFr650 million and net income of SFr52 million, is owned by "the Swiss banks", according to a portrait on its website. Telekurs manages the network for the automated teller machines in Switzerland. In addition, it processes credit card payments and debit card payments.

It has a number of holdings including, Swiss Interbank Clearing AG and Payserve AG. Outside Switzerland it has a number of joint ventures in the same areas of activity. At the end of 2001 the Telekurs Group had 1946 employees, almost 20 percent of whom work outside Switzerland.

By Valerie Thompson

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