News

PE firm pays $95M for South African IAD Paycorp

August 12, 2013

Private equity firm Actis has announced its acquisition from Transaction Capital Ltd. of the South African payments group PaycorpHoldings Ltd. Actis will become the company's majority shareholder; Paycorp founder and CEO, Steven Kark and his executive team will become co-investors.

The deal is valued at R937 million ($95.36 million). A news release from Paycorp said that the transaction includes all issued share capital of the company and its subsidiaries, which include:

• ATM Solutions, owner-operator of nearly 5,000 ATMs across southern Africa;
• DrawCard, a deployer of Visa-certified card programs; and
• EFTPOS, a provider of merchant debit and credit card acceptance solutions.

"Actis's investment in Paycorp is a strategic development that will give us valuable alliances with other global payment players," said Paycorp founder and CEO, Steven Kark. "We see great potential to leverage insights and expertise from other emerging markets and extend our footprint even further afield."

Actis's investment in Paycorp will be its fifth in the payments industry in three years. With a track record of building value across Africa and the Middle East, Actis is a natural partner to support Paycorp through the next phase of its growth.

"Actis is delighted to back accomplished entrepreneur Steven Kark and his team," said Natalie Kolbe, a partner in the Actis Johannesburg office. "We look forward to a mutually beneficial partnership with Paycorp in building a stronger global payments presence."

Assuming the fulfillment of certain conditions over the next few weeks, the companies expect to close the transaction by year-end.

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