Lincoln Mali, chief executive of Lesaka Southern Africa, says Adumo’s customer base will provide Lesaka with access to more than 245,000 consumers and to payment technologies that can be incorporated into existing operations. “The pending acquisition of Adumo is another significant milestone for Lesaka as we build the top fintech platform in southern Africa,” he says.

Lesaka, which has a primary listing on the Nasdaq and a secondary listing on the JSE, offers cash management solutions, growth capital, card acquiring, bill payment technologies and value-added services to retail merchants as well as banking, lending and insurance solutions to consumers across southern Africa.

Steve Heilbron, head of corporate development at Lesaka, adds that the group is excited to welcome respected shareholders Apis and African Rainbow Capital. “The augmentation of product offerings broadens our value proposition and enhances our ability to be disruptive and solve for our merchants’ pain points.”

Lincoln Mali, chief executive of Lesaka Southern Africa. (Photo: Supplied)

The R1.59-billion payment will be settled through the combination of an issuance of just more than 17 million Lesaka shares to Adumo’s current ultimate shareholders, and R232-million in cash, funded by internal cash resources and external financing.

Adumo’s ultimate shareholders include Apis Growth Fund I, a private equity fund managed by Apis Partners LLP, African Rainbow Capital, the International Finance Corporation and Adumo management.

Adumo co-founder and chief executive Paul Kent says the combined offering was likely to be a “natural fit considering our respective strengths and technology offerings”. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

Lesaka’s ecosystem will serve 1.7 million active consumers and 119,000 merchants, and process more than R250-billion in throughput (R140-billion card, R100-billion value-added services and R110-billion cash) per year. The group will have more than 3,300 employees operating on the ground in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Kenya. DM