Edenred, formerly known as Accor Services, is an international

payment service provider A payment service provider (PSP) is a third-party company that allows businesses to accept electronic payments, such as credit card and debit card payments. PSPs act as intermediaries between those who make payments, i.e. consumers, and those who ...

History

Foundation and Accor integration (1950s - 2009)

Jacques Borel created a meal voucher in France called Ticket Restaurant in 1962. He was inspired by the original Luncheon Voucher, a concept launched in the United Kingdom in 1954 and the Luncheon Vouchers Company founded by John Hack in 1955, A French government decree, passed in 1967, officially recognized the meal voucher as an

employee benefit Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a cor ...

. The concept was launched outside France starting in 1976. Ticket Restaurant and its local variant Ticket Alimentación began spreading to other countries in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, including

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. The Ticket Restaurant entity, which had been a subsidiary of

Accor Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide. Accor ope ...

since 1983, became Accor Services in 1998. Accor had also acquired Luncheon Vouchers one year prior. Thus the two entities were merged under the new name of Accor Services. In September 2007, Accor Services acquired a 98.3% stake UK pioneer and market leader in prepaid cards, PrePay Technologies Ltd, for €55M.

Formation of Edenred (2010 - today)

Following the split of Accor's hotel and prepaid services businesses, Accor Services became Edenred in June 2010. The group was listed on

NYSE Euronext Paris Euronext Paris, formerly known as the Paris Bourse (), is a regulated securities trading venue in France. It is Europe's second largest stock exchange by market capitalization, behind the London Stock Exchange, as of December 2023. As of 2022, th ...

on July 2, 2010. Jacques Stern was appointed chairman and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. Edenred also launched the Ticket Plus Card in Germany (staple goods: food, fuel, meals), Ticket Cultura in Brazil (cultural goods and services), and Fides Cloud Loyalty Software in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, managed by its subsidiary Accentiv India Pvt. Ltd. In 2014, Edenred acquired C3, a leader in the employee payroll cards market in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. The Group also acquired 34% of UTA, Europe’s second largest fuel card issuer, before increasing its stake to 51% in January 2017 to 66% in 2018 and 100% in 2020. Bertrand Dumazy became chairman and chief executive officer of Edenred on October 26, 2015. The group shifted focus to digital products and launched the Ticket Restaurant card in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in April 2014. As of 2021, 90% of the group's business volume around the world was generated from digital products. In 2016, the Group began a far-reaching transformation as part of its Fast Forward strategic plan (2016-2019). In that year, Edenred also launched its Corporate Payment Services business and acquired Embratec's operations in

. In November 2018, Edenred announced the acquisition of Corporate Spending Innovations, an electronic B2B payments company, for $600 million.

Expansion

Edenred operates in 46 countries and has over 10,000 employees. The group has moved into new countries since 2010:

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in 2011,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in 2012,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, the

in 2014 and

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

in 2018.

References

Footnotes

Citations

External links

{{Authority control Payment service providers CAC 40 Financial services companies established in 2010 French companies established in 2010 Companies based in Paris Companies listed on Euronext Paris