(Alliance News) - Capita PLC on Thursday said it sealed the sale of its Pay360 Ltd business to Access PaySuite Ltd, part of the Access Group.

The London-based outsourcing services provider sold Pay360 for around GBP156 million, with the sale helping to reduce the company's net debt and provide additional liquidity to strengthen Capita's balance sheet.

Capita had a net debt of GBP710.4 million on June 30, which was down from GBP879.8 million on December 31 last year. The company initially announced plans for the disposal of Pay360 on September 16.

Pay360 is a Financial Conduct Authority-regulated payments business with roughly 2,500 customers.

"The sale is a great opportunity for the new owners to help Pay360 realise its full potential, and our colleagues at Pay360 will also benefit from the focus that this change of ownership will bring," Capita Chief Executive Officer Jon Lewis said in September.

Separately on Thursday, the UK Competition & Markets Authority announced that NEC Software Solutions UK Ltd's purchase of SSS Public Safety Ltd and Secure Solutions USA from Capita could cause emergency services to pay more for essential software, after an in-depth investigation.

The CMA said that NEC must sell its Duties and ICCS software business to ensure that they remained in competition.

ICCS is used by control room personnel for services such as making urgent phone calls to emergency response staff. Duties is used by police forces to plan and schedule staff shifts.

Capita announced the disposal back in October of last year. The CMA referred the deal to a phase two probe in May, after serving an initial enforcement order in January.

Capita shares were up 3.3% at 24.36 pence each on Wednesday afternoon in London.

By Harvey Dorset; harveydorset@alliancenews.com

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