FinTech : PayU & Citrus Pay agree to a $130M deal

PayU, the online payment service provider, today announced that Citrus Pay an Indian payments technology player would become part of its Indian operation. PayU claims its $130M transaction to be the largest ever M&A cash deal in Indian fintech, demonstrating its payments and financial services expansion strategy.

PayU targets to grow its India customer numbers to more than 30 million, processing a forecasted 150 million transactions in 2016 worth a combined $4.2 billion, growing at 50%+ YoY. The agreement also enables PayU to quickly bring additional innovative financial services to market for its business and consumer customers.

Amrish Rau, currently Citrus Pay managing director, will become CEO of PayU in India. Reporting to PayU Global CEO, Laurent le Moal, he will lead the management team across PayU and Citrus Pay. Citrus Pay founder Jitendra Gupta will drive PayU’s Fintech foray into credit through Citrus Pay’s Lazypay while Shailaz Nag, PayU co-founder will focus on new areas of growth through bank alliances. Nitin Gupta, the PayU co-founder, will help complete the transition to the new leadership team before departing PayU to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions.

The agreement, due to close in Q3 2016, capitalises on this market growth and brings together two complementary businesses. PayU will be able to maximise its existing franchise in e-commerce, and grow vertical market leadership in the airline and telecoms industries on the back of Citrus Pay’s platform. PayU will also continue to develop Citrus Pay’s consumer brands, LazyPay and Sellfie.

Laurent le Moal, CEO of PayU, 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.”

“I’m delighted that Amrish Rau, Shailaz Nag and Jitendra Gupta will lead PayU in India and unite our future strategy. Everyone at Citrus Pay and PayU is driven by an entrepreneurial passion to increase access to financial services in emerging markets. We are excited about the opportunity to capitalise 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.”

A recent Boston Consulting Group report estimated digital transactions will hit $500 billion by 2020, ten times its current level.

Investec acted as the sole advisor to the transaction.