Consumer finance company FlexiGroup will triple the size of its credit card business and increase its overall receivables by more than 40 per cent, with the acquisition of New Zealand's Fisher & Paykel Finance.FlexiGroup announced yesterday that it would pay cash upfront of A$234 million for the business, plus a $9 million payment deferred for two years and a $52 million perpetual note to be held by the vendor. The total purchase price has a net present value of $275 million.Fisher & Paykel Finance has 430,000 active card customers, which FlexiGroup estimates to be about 21 per cent of the New Zealand credit card market.FlexiGroup acting chief executive David Stevens said that, while Fisher & Paykel Finance had significant market penetration, it only accounted for about two per cent of New Zealand credit card spend. Many New Zealand consumers see Fisher & Paykel Finance's Q Card and Farmers Finance cards as limited to Farmers stores and a few other electrical goods chains, and instead use their bank-issued credit cards for most purchases.Stevens said this situation presented an opportunity for growth. One way FlexiGroup will try and increase spend on Fisher & Paykel cards is to convert them from the current "closed loop" product structure to a scheme card (MasterCard), so that consumers can use their cards anywhere.He said there was a significant degree of overlap between FlexiGroup's retail partners in Australia and Fisher & Paykel Finance's partners in New Zealand.The Q card and Farmers Finance cards have grown out of relationships with department store and other retail chains, including the once dominant but now stagnant Farmers department store chains. The cards are accepted by 12,000 partner stores in New Zealand with the top five partners (Farmers, JB HiFi, Dick Smith, Michael Hill Jeweller and Flight Centre) accounting for 22 per cent of volumes.This overlap provides an opportunity to run the two card businesses on the same platform and develop products for both markets, while achieving economies.Fisher & Paykel Finance has receivables of NZ$662 million. The addition of the business will take FlexiGroup's receivables to more than A$2 billion, with 40 per cent of receivables coming from cards with interest-free offers.New Zealand's contribution to FlexiGroup receivables will rise from 12 per cent to 38 per cent.Fisher & Paykel Finance's Q Card and Farmers Finance will continue to operate under those brands, while the commercial leasing division efl will be folded into Flexi Commercial.