(Alliance News) - Network International Holdings PLC on Tuesday said it is to conduct a share placing to fund the payment solutions provider's acquisition of African payment service provider DPO Group.
Network International said it is to conduct a non-pre-emptive placing of 50 million new shares, representing approximately 10.0% of the current issued ordinary share capital.
The placing is to be conducted through an accelerated book-building process, which will be launched immediately, the company noted.
The company said Citigroup Global Markets Ltd and JP Morgan Securities PLC are acting as joint-book-runners. Further, the price at which the placing shares are to be placed will be determined at the close of the book-building process.
Proceeds from the placing, Network International said, will be used to fund the purchase of African online commerce platform DPO Group for around USD288 million.
Network said the acquisition will consolidate and accelerate its presence in Africa - the most underpenetrated and fast-growing payments market in the world.
In addition, Africa expected to represent 40% of Network International total revenue by 2024 giving the company an evenly balanced business in Africa across Merchant and Issuer Solution, it added.
"We are excited by the proposed acquisition of DPO, the leading high-growth online commerce platform operating at scale across Africa. Africa is a vast and diverse continent, representing the world's most underpenetrated, nascent and fast growing payments markets, where we have seen recent signs of an acceleration in those trends. DPO will further consolidate our presence in Africa, strengthen our position across the entire payments value chain and accelerate our growth," said Chief Executive Officer Simon Haslam.
The stock closed up 0.3% at 449.50 pence on Tuesday.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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Network International (NETW)