Online payments firm PayU, which is owned by South Africa’s Naspers Group, has acquired Indian payments technology firm Citrus Pay for $130m in an all-cash deal.
The deal will grow PayU India customers to more than 30 million, processing a forecasted 150 million transactions in 2016 worth a combined $4.2bn, growing at more than 50% year-on-year, a joint-statement said.
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Citrus Pay, which was founded by Jitendra Gupta and Satyen Kothari in 2011, will become a wholly owned company of Naspers following completion of the deal.
Citrus Pay’s current managing director Amrish Rau will become CEO of PayU in India and will report to PayU Global CEO Laurent le Moal. Co-founder Jitendra Gupta is expected to drive the company's foray into credit through Citrus Pay's Lazy Pay unit.
PayU co-founder Nitin Gupta will leave the company after the deal to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions.
PayU CEO Laurent le Moal said: “Today’s announcement is a significant milestone for both businesses, as well as the fintech industry in India. It is exciting for everyone across the PayU and Citrus teams as we bring together new capabilities that will help us to better serve our collective clients.
“We are excited about the opportunity to capitalize on our shared heritage in payments and build a broader financial services proposition, something PayU is focused on across all of the 16 countries we operate in.”
The agreement is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016
