A UK payments FinTech is to scale across Latin America following the completion of a $441 million (£319m) deal.
Paysafe, which is headquartered in London but listed in New York, has moved to acquire SafetyPay in an all-cash transaction.
SafetyPay’s payments platform enables eCommerce transactions via a choice of open banking and eCash solutions, operating primarily in Latin America.
It has a presence in 11 Latin American countries and has 90 per cent bank coverage, with more than 180,000 cash collection points. It serves nearly 300 merchants primarily in the travel, entertainment, and digital goods industries.
Paysafe recently acquired Peruvian payments platform PagoEfectivo.This latest deal strengthens its strategic foothold in Latin America, one of the world’s fastest-growing online markets.
On completion of the deal, the SafetyPay team will transition into Paysafe’s expanding eCash and online banking solutions team, headed up by Paysafe eCash CEO, Udo Mueller.
At that time, SafetyPay’s CEO, Gustavo Ruiz Moya, will become CEO, eCash for Latin America and Global Head of Open Banking, reporting into Mueller.
The enlarged Paysafe eCash business will be able to offer eCash and open banking solutions in more than 60 countries with more than one million distribution points.
“We are very excited to welcome SafetyPay into the Paysafe family. The team has successfully built a market-leading payment platform that has become the de facto open banking solution for Latin America,” said Paysafe CEO Philip McHugh.
“We look forward to partnering with Gustavo and the team to continue to build eCash and online banking solutions across LATAM and beyond.”
Chairman Bill Foley added: “We see exciting synergies in key industry verticals like iGaming where we want to win.
“From the start, we have had a plan to grow in areas where we can achieve scale through operational efficiency. It is great to see the team execute and create more opportunities for growth.”
The SafetyPay transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021. Paysafe’s banks have provided financing commitments and Paysafe intends to refinance these bridge facilities with new debt contemporaneously with the completion of the acquisition.