Prosus-owned PayU scraps $4.7 billion BillDesk deal after CCI nod

“Closing of the transaction was subject to the fulfilment of various conditions precedent, including approval by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). PayU secured CCI approval on 5 September 2022. However, certain conditions precedent were not fulfilled by the 30 September 2022 long stop date, and the agreement has terminated automatically in accordance with its terms and, accordingly, the proposed transaction will not be implemented,” said Ryan in the company blog.

On August 31, 2021, Prosus had announced that it would acquire BillDesk for $4.7 billion in an all-cash deal to expand its footprint in the country’s booming fintech sector under the umbrella of its payment gateway PayU.

The merger was expected to create a payment gateway giant which would process $147 billion in annualized total payments value (TPV), more than double of its nearest contender Razorpay, which currently processes $80 billion in annual TPV.

On September 6, India’s market watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) had
cleared PayU’s acquisition of BillDesk, after a year-long wait. PayU had to answer several questions from the regulator after the deal was announced in August 2021.

Prosus, which has backed the likes of Swiggy, Byju’s and Pharmeasy in India, has invested $6 billion in India’s technology startups since 2005.

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“Prosus remains committed to the Indian market and growing its existing businesses within the region,” it said on Monday.

This was pegged as the second largest M&A in India after the Walmart-Flipkart deal in 2018. The surprise announcement of the termination comes after the deal was approved recently by the antitrust regulator after a year since it was first announced.

“Closing of the transaction was subject to the fulfillment of various conditions precedent, including approval by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). PayU secured CCI approval on 5 September 2022. However, certain conditions precedent were not fulfilled by the 30 September 2022 long stop date, and the agreement has terminated automatically in accordance with its terms and, accordingly, the proposed transaction will not be implemented,” a statement from PayU said on Monday.