Ant Group reportedly nearing deal to acquire Dutch payments firm MultiSafepay
China’s Ant Group is reportedly close to agreeing a deal to acquire MultiSafepay and bolster its position within Europe’s payments market.
Ant Group reportedly set to acquire MultiSafepay
The acquisition would value the Dutch payments firm at $200 million, Reuters reported this week, however it’s currently unknown when or how the deal will be completed.
Founded in 1999 and based in Amsterdam, MultiSafepay offers an end-to-end payments toolkit featuring more than 30 local and international payment methods, with the company claiming a user base of over 18,000 business merchants.
According to sources at Reuters, the company currently produces an annual revenue of $50 million, while being wholly-owned by its founder and current CEO, Olaf Geurs.
For Ant Group, which is 33% owned by Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group, the deal could place it more competitively within Europe’s already highly saturated payments market.
While it’s best recognised as the operator of the cross-border payments platform Alipay+, Ant Group has had a hand in a variety of payment initiatives over the past few years.
Its activity within the global payment space has centred largely on increasing payment acceptance for Chinese tourists venturing outside of Asia. This endeavour is best noted through its 2019 agreement with Barclaycard and its $700 million acquisition of UK payments group WorldFirst the same year.
Elsewhere, Ant Group went on to snap up Singaporean payments platform 2C2P in April 2022 in an attempt to increase adoption of Alipay, while it also opted to sell its stake in Indian financial services firm Paytm just over a year later.
As for reports concerning its latest move, it’s expected that the acquisition will be subject to regulatory approval, and financial details of the takeover have yet to be released.
Ant Group did not respond to FinTech Futures‘ request for comment.
