Terence Gregory, CEO of Ecsponent.
Ecsponent Limited has announced the group’s latest transaction to expand its asset base by acquiring an additional stake in Frankfurt-listed FinTech, MyBucks S.A. The acquisition, which contributes to the Group’s rand-hedged investments, will amount to a total of EUR 3,996-million.
The group will purchase 444,000 shares through a private placement at a significantly discounted value of EUR 9.00 per MyBucks share. Ecsponent has secured an institutional funding line to settle the transaction in cash.
At the time of the announcement of the private placement in Luxembourg on 5 February, these shares were trading at EUR 11.90. The acquisition, through the group’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Ecsponent Botswana, will see its stake in the FinTech group increasing from 9.3% to 12%.
Ecsponent is gaining a reputation for defying unstable local and global market conditions. Last year was the sixth consecutive year the African financial services group achieved triple-digit growth in its key performance areas. All three strategic business units enjoyed substantial growth in the last financial year, which the company plans to emulate in 2018. In addition, it was among the top five performing JSE-listed equities in 2017, with its share price growing by 177%,” said Ecsponent CEO Terence Gregory.
“Our sustained growth can be attributed to the consistent performance of our core business units: Investment Services, Business Credit and Equity Holdings. These core business assets are identifiable by the role they play in meeting our strategic objectives and their contribution to profits.
“This acquisition is the strategic move to increase the Group’s asset base and bolster one of the core business units, namely Equity Holdings. “This transaction aligns perfectly with our investment strategy. The FinTech industry is operating at the leading edge of innovation in the fourth industrial revolution.
“The FinTech business offers us great potential gains because of the high barriers to entry, high profit and high intellectual property inherent in the industry. MyBucks has experienced magnificent growth in its short lifespan, and operating in the high-growth emerging markets, primarily in Africa, the business is set to benefit from its strategy of bringing the informal sector closer to mainstream finance. We believe this will inevitably unlock substantial value for our shareholders.”
The balance of the MyBucks private placement will substantially be taken up by vehicles related to Messrs. Christian Angermayer, a German entrepreneur and owner of Apeiron Investment Group, and Gerd Alexander Schütz. Mr. Schütz is the managing partner and founder of the asset manager C-Quadrat AG, chairman of the MyBucks board of directors and a member of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank AG.
MyBucks is a growing, globally respected brand, built on innovation. As a high-growth company, MyBucks is in an acquisitive stage and during its 2017 financial year integrated four Opportunity Banks in Africa and FairGo Finance in Australia into its fold.
MyBucks' vision of bringing finance products to excluded segments of the global market will continue to not only make a significant impact in the lives and economies of the markets where it operates but drives significant growth for MyBucks in future. A testament to this is winning the 2017 European Fintech award for financial inclusion.
MyBucks currently has operations in 11 African countries, as well as, Poland and Australia.
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