Bates Wells’ corporate team advised the shareholders of DPO Group, the leading, high-growth online commerce platform and payments provider in Africa, on the conditional sale of DPO Group to Network International Holdings Plc, a FTSE 250 company listed on the London Stock Exchange plc.
DPO Group is the largest online commerce platform operating at scale across 19 African countries with South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania representing major markets. The group provides payments services to nearly 50,000 merchants and facilitates acceptance of a wide range of payment types from consumers, including cards, mobile money, online funds transfers and e-wallets.
The majority of the USD288m purchase price will be paid in cash by Network International from the proceeds of its recent £205m placing. The balance of the purchase price will be satisfied by the issue of Network International shares to the former DPO Group shareholders.
The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to complete in Q4 2020.
The transaction demonstrates Bates Wells’ capabilities working on complex international M&A transactions and further highlights our expertise in the fintech sector, which continues to be a strong focus for the team.
Bates Wells’ corporate team was led by Stephen Callender (Partner) and supported by Matthew Gearing (Senior Associate).