이 기사는 2019년 12월 05일 08시00분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

The process of acquiring KSNET, a leading payment solutions provider, is going smoothly. A consortium composed of South Korean private equity firm Stonebridge Capital and online billing and payment services provider Payletter is negotiating with Net1 UEPS Technologies (Net1), the largest shareholder of KSNET, which heightens the hope of signing a deal by the end of this year.

According to industry sources on November 29, South African value-added network (VAN) service provider Net1 and the Stonebridge-Payletter consortium are expected to sign a stock purchase agreement (SPA) around the end of this year. The buyer, which has secured exclusive rights, is at the final stage of the acquisition process, negotiating warranty and indemnity (W&I) insurance policy.

The negotiation is likely to speed up as the seller and buyer have made some progress thus far. Net1 and its lead manager of the sale Financial Technology Partners changed its initial schedule and planned to receive binding offers once more on November 18. However, they ultimately chose the shortlisted Stonebridge-Payletter consortium as the preferred bidder.

“The sell-side named Stonebridge-Payletter consortium as the preferred bidder to give an exclusive negotiating power to one of the shortlisted contenders, considering the deal certainty,” said an IB industry source.

The acquisition structure is soon to be fixed. The consortium will acquire KSNET through a project fund it will create. The consortium submitted a letter of intention (LOI), with Korean Teachers’ Mutual Fund as the anchor limited partner. The Stonebridge-Payletter consortium is discussing about 150 billion won acquisition financing with NongHyup Bank and Woori Bank while Payletter plans to put in 50 billion won separately. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020. The deal size is likely to be around 270 billion won. The consortium will decide the final acquisition structure once they receive the result from the limited partner’s investment committee.

The Stonebridge-Payletter consortium plans to keep the company under the management of professional CEO, maintaining the current stable organizational structure. Some market watchers say that the buyer may exit the company in the form of a separate sale in the future. This is because during the latest buyout process, there were some demands for acquiring each division of KSNET separately.

(By reporter Rho Arrum)