PayU’s Prosus to buy BillDesk for $4.7 billion

The acquisition is subjected to regulatory approvals, including approval from the Competition Commission of India

PayU’s Prosus to buy BillDesk for $4.7 billion

Payments platform BillDesk will be acquired by Prosus who is the lead investor of PayU. Prosus is a technology investor. It will buy BillDesk for a sum of $4.7 billion that roughly amounts to Rs. 34,380 crores. The acquisition will boost its PayU business.

The company hopes that the acquisition will create a financial ecosystem that can handle about 4 billion transactions every year. This is four times the current transactions done by PayU in India. Prosus stated that BillDesk is one of the major players in the Indian payment platform. It had 271 crores in net profit for the financial year that ended on March 31, 2021. BillDesk was founded in 2000. The acquisition is subjected to regulatory approvals, including approval from the Competition Commission of India.

Prosus is an Amsterdam-based company. It has made several investments in India. The total investments of the company in India after the acquisition will amount to more than $10 billion. The company came out of Naspers of South Africa in 2019. It has stakes in consumer internet companies in online marketplaces, educational software, food delivery, and also fintech. Some of the companies are operated by it. It has a 28.9 percent stake in China’s Tencent. In India, it has a major investor in Swiggy which is one of the two food delivery giants.