Fintech
Prosus makes R11bn sale
PayU, a fintech business of Prosus, majority owned by South Africa’s Naspers, has sold its global payments division for $610m.
Prosus has announced that its fintech subsidiary PayU has sold its Global Payments Organisation (GPO) for US$610-million (about R11-billion) to Rapyd.
It says the transaction will enable PayU to focus on the large payments and fintech opportunity in India. PayU is the leading payments provider in that country, serving more than 450,000 merchants and more than 2-million credit customers.
The deal follows recent strong performance in Prosus’s payments and fintech segment, which produced consolidated revenue growth of 52% to US$903-million for the 2023 financial year.
The GPO business provides advanced ecommerce payment solutions for global merchants in over 30 countries across Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa. The business contributes around 30% of PayU’s overall revenues. For 2023, total payment volumes for GPO grew 12% year-on-year, to US$34-billion. This is around 3x growth in 5 years.
Rapyd is a digital payment processing and infrastructure company that delivers end-to-end products covering the entire payment spectrum from ecommerce payments acceptance to complex financial solutions including payouts, FX, white label wallets, and card issuing. This transaction will help Rapyd to significantly scale and market its presence in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America, while also gaining access to relevant underlying licenses and payment processing infrastructure.
Prosus and Naspers CEO Bob van Dijk said: “PayU’s GPO business has grown considerably in recent years, with payment volumes growing more than 300% in the past five years alone. The business occupies a strong position in the global fintech space as a result of the investments made in building an exceptional local payments business, with global scale.
“We are now fully focused on the huge fintech opportunity in India, where PayU is the leading payments service provider and is rapidly expanding its credit offering. Innovation and progressive regulation are driving rapid change within the digital payments industry in India, and we see many new opportunities to further expand our business there. As one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, we strongly believe in digital India and are excited about the next phase of growth for PayU in India.”
PayU CEO Laurent le Moal said: “PayU’s payments business is one of the largest, fastest growing and most profitable businesses in India among non-banking players, delivering 42% year on year growth in the last year alone. Overall, India’s digital financial services opportunity continues to be large and underpenetrated, offering healthy growth for the PayU India business. In areas like lending and digital credit products, where PayU India already supports 2-million customers and over 450,000 merchants, we see strong growth potential for the future.”
The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.
