Lesaka To Acquire Prepaid Electricity Submetering And Payments Business Recharger

Lesaka To Acquire Prepaid Electricity Submetering And Payments Business Recharger. Lesaka Technologies, Inc. today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of Recharger (Pty) Ltd (“Recharger”), a South African prepaid electricity submetering and payments business.

The purchase consideration of ZAR 507 million will be paid over two tranches with the first tranche settled at closing and the second tranche a year later. The purchase consideration will be settled through a combination of ZAR 332 million ($18 million) in cash and ZAR 175 million ($10 million) in shares of Lesaka common stock. The share price applied to determine the number of shares of Lesaka’s common stock to be issued for the equity consideration will be based on the volume-weighted average price of Lesaka shares for the three-month period prior to the disbursal of each tranche. Lesaka will also make a ZAR 43 million ($2 million) contribution to Recharger at closing which will be used exclusively to repay a loan due by Recharger to the seller.

The Company expects the transaction to be concluded at an EV/EBITDA multiple of approximately 6.0 times. Recharger is expected to sit within the Enterprise pillar of Lesaka’s Merchant Division. The Company expects the acquisition to act as an entry point into the South African private utilities space while augmenting the Enterprise pillar’s alternative payment offering.

Recharger is a South African prepaid electricity submetering and payments business with a base of over 460,000 registered prepaid electricity meters. Recharger enables landlords to collect payment for utilities usage from tenants in advance, eliminating the need to manage billing and collections. This model further provides tenants with the ability to manage their utility usage and payments directly, providing them with greater control over cost.

Lesaka Technologies, (Lesaka™) is a South African Fintech company driven by a purpose to provide financial services and software to Southern Africa’s underserviced consumers (B2C) and merchants (B2B), improving people’s lives and increasing financial inclusion in the markets in which it operates.