Prosus calls off $4.7bn acquisition of BillDesk

New Delhi, October 3

Prosus NV, which owns PayU, has terminated a $4.7-billion (about Rs 38,400-crore) deal to acquire Indian payments firm BillDesk after conditions on the deal weren’t met. In a statement, Prosus said certain conditions precedent weren’t met by the deadline at the end of September.

Approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which was one of the conditions precedent, was received on September 5 but Prosus did not specify which other conditions were not met.

A condition precedent is a stipulation that defines certain conditions that must either occur or be met by either party to ensure progress or execution of a contract.

The amalgamation of BillDesk with PayU of Prosus would have created a digital payments giant with an annual total payment volume (TPV) of $147 billion.

Its closest rivals in India such as Razorpay and CCAvenue, which is owned by Infibeam, are estimated to have an annual TPV of over $50 billion and $18-20 billion, respectively.

This would have been the largest acquisition of Prosus, a Dutch e-commerce company.

Prosus had on August 31 last year announced the acquisition of BillDesk in an all-cash deal to expand its footprint in India’s booming fintech sector under the umbrella of its payment gateway PayU. There is no break-free associated with the deal.

Prosus, majority owned by Naspers, serves more than 4,50,000 merchants with over 100 payment methods. Prosus has been a long-term investor and operator in India investing close to $6 billion in technology companies like Swiggy, and Pharmeasy since 2005, it said.

BillDesk, founded by three consultants from Arthur Andersen LLP — MN Srinivasu, Ajay Kaushal and Karthik Ganapathy — in 2000, benefited from a surge in growth in digital payments as smartphones adoption grew and Internet access became ubiquitous. — PTI

Deal collapses

• The amalgamation of BillDesk with PayU of Prosus would have created a digital payments giant with an annual total payment volume (TPV) of $147 billion
• Its closest rivals in India such as Razorpay and CCAvenue, which is owned by Infibeam, are estimated to have an annual TPV of over $50 billion and $18-20 billion, respectively