South African fintech Lesaka snaps up Adumo in $86m deal
Lesaka Technologies, a fintech firm based in South Africa, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire fellow South Africa-based paytech Adumo in a deal worth around $85.9 million.
Adumo set to be acquired by Lesaka for $86m
The deal, which is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, will be settled through a combination of $12.5 million in cash and the issuance of 17,279,803 shares of Lesaka common stock to Adumo’s current “ultimate” shareholders. This cash component will be funded by both external financing and internal cash resources.
Adumo’s “ultimate” shareholders comprise Apis Growth Fund I, a private equity fund overseen by UK-based VC Apis Partners, and African Rainbow Capital (ARC), a South African investment firm.
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Bryanston, South Africa, Adumo is considered the largest point-of-sale (POS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions provider to the country’s hospitality industry.
The paytech primarily specialises in integrated payments, reconciliation services, and card acquiring, serving approximately 23,000 merchants. Its corporate card offering is utilised by over 245,000 cardholders, supporting expense management, rewards, incentives, and payroll.
Lesaka, which provides B2B and B2C financial services to South African consumers and enterprises, says the acquisition will reinforce the company’s position as a “natural consolidator of Southern African fintech and will enhance our strengths in both the consumer and merchant markets”.
Following the acquisition, Lesaka anticipates that its solutions ecosystem will cater to more than 119,000 merchants and 1.7 million consumers, processing over $13 billion in throughput annually. Additionally, the group plans to extend its operations to encompass Kenya, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia, alongside its initial market of South Africa, with a combined workforce exceeding 3,300 employees.
Lesaka says the deal is expected to be finalised in the “third calendar quarter of 2024”.
