WASHINGTON: US digital payment platform Square, founded by Twitter boss Jack Dorsey, announced Sunday it will acquire Australia’s Afterpay Limited for $29 billion.
Afterpay specializes in the “buy now, pay later” model that offers users staggered payments, often without extra charge.
The fintech application is available in Australia, the United States and Canada, as well as the United Kingdom, France and Italy. It has 100,000 suppliers worldwide and boasts 16.2 million customers.
The merger and acquisition, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022, will be done entirely through an exchange of shares and will value Afterpay at approximately $29 billion, according to a joint statement.
After completion of the deal, which offers a 30 percent premium on Afterpay’s share price at closing Friday, shareholders will own 18.5 percent of the new company’s capital.
“The acquisition aims to enable the companies to better deliver compelling financial products and services that expand access to more consumers and drive incremental revenue for merchants of all sizes,” the two groups said in the statement.
