The transaction, valued at R507m, has been settled in cash and shares
06 March 2025 - 07:55
byJacqueline Mackenzie and Mudiwa Gavaza
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Lesaka Southern Africa CEO Lincoln Mali. Picture: SUPPLIED
Lesaka Technologies has completed the acquisition of SA prepaid electricity submetering and payments business Recharger for R507m.
The cash-and-shares transaction, to be settled in two tranches, consisted of R332m in cash and R175m in Lesaka shares, the company said on Thursday.
Lesaka extended a R43m loan to Recharger at closing, which was used to repay an existing loan due by the payments business to the seller.
The first tranche, comprising R153m in cash and 1.09-million Lesaka shares valued at R98m, was settled at closing on March 3. The second tranche, a cash payment of R175m and Lesaka shares valued at R75m, is due on March 3 2026.
“This acquisition demonstrates positive advancement of Lesaka’s strategy in its enterprise division. The company expects the acquisition to act as an entry point for it into the SA private utilities space while augmenting the enterprise division’s alternative payment offering,” Lesaka said in a statement.
Recharger has a base of more than 460,000 registered prepaid electricity meters. The company enables landlords to collect payment for utilities from tenants in advance, eliminating the need to manage billing and collections.
Business Day reported recently that Lesaka, formerly Net1 UEPS Technologies, had doubled its customer base over the past four years.
The JSE- and Nasdaq-listed company consists of two divisions: a merchant unit; and a consumer segment. The consumer unit focuses on products such as unsecured credit, transactional banking, microinsurance and value-added services through the EasyPay platform.
There are now 1.8-million customers in the consumer division, 1.6-million of which are social grant recipients, a market the group holds a 12% share in. The balance, 200,000, came onto Lesaka’s books as a result of its 2024 acquisition of fintech operator Adumo.
Having grown the consumer base from about 1-million at the start of 2021, some have speculated that the group is attempting to build a bank through EasyPay.
The group recently reported revenue of R2.6bn for the second quarter to end-December — at the upper end of its guidance − and compared with R2.7bn a year ago.
The group, however, reported operating income of R14.2m for the period, much lower than the R42.5m a year earlier.
Group adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) were up 26% to R211.8m.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Lesaka completes Recharger acquisition
The transaction, valued at R507m, has been settled in cash and shares
Lesaka Technologies has completed the acquisition of SA prepaid electricity submetering and payments business Recharger for R507m.
The cash-and-shares transaction, to be settled in two tranches, consisted of R332m in cash and R175m in Lesaka shares, the company said on Thursday.
Lesaka extended a R43m loan to Recharger at closing, which was used to repay an existing loan due by the payments business to the seller.
The first tranche, comprising R153m in cash and 1.09-million Lesaka shares valued at R98m, was settled at closing on March 3. The second tranche, a cash payment of R175m and Lesaka shares valued at R75m, is due on March 3 2026.
“This acquisition demonstrates positive advancement of Lesaka’s strategy in its enterprise division. The company expects the acquisition to act as an entry point for it into the SA private utilities space while augmenting the enterprise division’s alternative payment offering,” Lesaka said in a statement.
Recharger has a base of more than 460,000 registered prepaid electricity meters. The company enables landlords to collect payment for utilities from tenants in advance, eliminating the need to manage billing and collections.
Business Day reported recently that Lesaka, formerly Net1 UEPS Technologies, had doubled its customer base over the past four years.
The JSE- and Nasdaq-listed company consists of two divisions: a merchant unit; and a consumer segment. The consumer unit focuses on products such as unsecured credit, transactional banking, microinsurance and value-added services through the EasyPay platform.
There are now 1.8-million customers in the consumer division, 1.6-million of which are social grant recipients, a market the group holds a 12% share in. The balance, 200,000, came onto Lesaka’s books as a result of its 2024 acquisition of fintech operator Adumo.
Having grown the consumer base from about 1-million at the start of 2021, some have speculated that the group is attempting to build a bank through EasyPay.
The group recently reported revenue of R2.6bn for the second quarter to end-December — at the upper end of its guidance − and compared with R2.7bn a year ago.
The group, however, reported operating income of R14.2m for the period, much lower than the R42.5m a year earlier.
Group adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) were up 26% to R211.8m.
With Mudiwa Gavaza
mackenziej@arena.africa
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