Lesaka to buy Recharger in R500-million deal

Local listed fintech Lesaka Technologies will acquire South African prepaid electricity submetering and payments business Recharger for R507-million.

“This is an exciting addition to our fintech platform, adding scale to our Enterprise pillar and bringing new revenue opportunities to Lesaka,” said Naeem Kola, chief operating officer at Lesaka Technologies, in a statement on Wednesday.

“The Recharger acquisition will facilitate us playing a larger role in the prepaid electricity vending and payments value chain and fits well with our existing technologies and services in the Enterprise pillar.”

According to the statement, the R507-million will be paid in two tranches, with the first settled at closing and the second a year after that. R332-million of the total will be paid in cash and the balance of R175-million will be in the form of Lesaka common stock.

The share price to be used when transferring the stock will be based on an average over the three months prior to the tranche payment being made. At closing, Lesaka will make an additional R43-million payment to Recharger to repay a loan due by Recharger to the seller.

“We expect the transaction to be concluded at an Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) multiple of approximately six times and for the acquisition to act as an entry into point into the South African private utilities space while augmenting the Enterprise pillars alternative payment offering,” said Lesaka.