PARIS (Reuters) – French payments company Worldline (WLN.PA) will buy the payments unit of Swiss stock exchange operator SIX Group, in the latest example of consolidation within the sector, as credit card companies and banks are keen to lock in profit from the shift towards electronic and online payments.

The French company said its acquisition of SIX Payment Services would be a transaction mostly paid in shares with a cash component of 0.28 billion euros (246 million pounds), giving SIX Payment Services an enterprise value of 2.30 billion euros, or 2.75 billion Swiss francs.

Worldline said the deal would result in SIX Payment Services ending up with a 27 percent stake in the French company, while Atos (ATOS.PA) would retain its majority 51 percent stake in Worldline.

Worldline said its offer to buy SIX Payment is composed of an offer of 49.1 million of new Worldline shares to be issued, representing 27 percent of the share capital, and 338 million Swiss francs ($337.53 million) in cash, subject to customary net debt and working capital adjustments.

The European payments industry has been consolidating quickly and other recent takeover targets have included Worldpay and Paysafe, while Nets also got taken over last year by U.S. firm Hellman & Friedman,