Prosus buys payment gateway firm BillDesk in one of India's biggest fintech deals ever

• The acquisition would allow PayU to become one of the leading online payments providers, globally.
• Prior to this, PayU has acquired CitrusPay, Paysense and Wibmo in the Indian market.
• BillDesk currently handles close to $147 billion in payments, annually.

Technology investor Prosus NV (earlier known as Naspers) has acquired Indian payments platform BillDesk for $4.7 billion to complement its own fintech business PayU. The deal is still subject to regulatory approvals.

This is one of the biggest buyouts done by Prosus and one of the largest merger and acquisition deals in the Indian fintech industry.

The acquisition would allow PayU to become one of the leading online payments providers, globally, with presence in over 20 markets and increased total payments volume (TPV) of over $4 billion. BillDesk is currently handling TPV of $147 billion annually.

"Together, the two expect to create a financial ecosystem handling 4 billion transactions annually -- four times PayU’s current level in India,” the investment firm said in a press note.

Prior to this, PayU has acquired CitrusPay, Paysense and Wibmo in the Indian market in order to expand its business across several vertices. Meanwhile, Prosus has invested about $10 billion in India over the last decade.

“Payments and fintech is a core segment for Prosus, and India remains our number one investment destination” Bob van Dijk, group chief executive of Prosus, said.

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