The deal was terminated days after securing approval from the Indian anti-trust regulator CCI
PayU terminates the $4.7bn acquisition of BillDesk. (Credit: PROSUS)
Prosus announced that Dutch fintech company PayU’s previously announced $4.7bn acquisition of Indian digital payments provider BillDesk has been terminated due to the failure of meeting certain preceding conditions.
PayU is the payments and fintech business of Prosus.
The termination comes even after securing approval from India’s anti-trust regulator, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in September 2022.
Prosus stated: “However, certain conditions precedent were not fulfilled by the 30 September 2022 long stop date, and the agreement has terminated automatically in accordance with its terms and, accordingly, the proposed transaction will not be implemented.”
The deal if completed would have marked PayU’s fourth acquisition in India. The Dutch firm had earlier acquired Citrus Pay, PaySense, and Wibmo.
Founded in 2000, BillDesk mainly offers payment aggregation services that help merchants and other entities in getting payments from their customers across multiple digital payment methods.
Apart from its payments platform, the Indian firm also offers customer engagement and loyalty solutions.
PayU has three businesses that include payments for domestic and cross border transactions, credit solutions for small businesses and consumers, and strategic investments in innovative fintech firms.
The business combination of PayU and BillDesk was expected to create a financial ecosystem capable of handling four billion transactions annually.
Prosus said that it has been investing and operating in India on a long-term basis, having invested nearly $6bn in Indian technology firms since 2005. The Dutch consumer internet group stated that it will continue to be committed to the Indian market and expand its existing businesses within the country.