TA Associates acquires minority stake in Interswitch

10 Mar 2017
Financial Nigeria

Summary

Helios Investment Partners, which had hitherto owned a 52 percent stake in Interswitch, will remain the majority shareholder in the payments company.

Mitchell Elegbe, Group Managing Director/CEO, Interswitch

TA Associates, an American private equity firm, has acquired a minority stake in Interswitch, Nigeria’s leading payments processing company, for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition comes after Interswitch announced, in December last year, that it had suspended plans to raise about $1 billion in an initial public offering. Helios Investment Partners, which had hitherto owned a 52 percent stake in Interswitch, will remain the majority shareholder in the payments company, according to a statement released this week.

“We believe a partnership with a growth private equity firm such as TA Associates will prove highly beneficial to our ongoing efforts of consolidating the impact of our services and increasing financial inclusion for all,” said Mitchell Elegbe, Interswitch’s CEO. “We welcome TA as our newest investor and look forward to benefitting from their experience in the payments space and their valuable insight and support.”

Founded in 2002, Interswitch is at the forefront of Nigeria’s rapidly growing e-payments sector. The company owns Verve, a widely used brand of debit cards, in addition to handling payments processing for most Nigerian banks. Interswitch currently operates in four other African countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Gambia.

Following the acquisition, Interswitch will join TA Associates’ other current and past payment processing investments worldwide, including BluePay Processing, Cardtronics, IndiaIdeas.com (BillDesk), Procare Software, Retriever Medical/Dental Payments, W.A.G. payment solutions (Eurowag) and YeePay.

“Interswitch is a unique, high quality and strategic asset located in one of Africa’s leading economies,” said Naveen Wadhera, a Managing Director at TA Associates, who will join Interswitch’s Board of Directors. “We are delighted to expand upon our longstanding presence within the global payments industry through our partnership with the management team and Helios, and look forward to helping Interswitch continue to expand its business.”

TA Associates is one of the largest global growth private equity firms. The Boston-based company has invested in more than 480 companies around the world and has raised $24 billion in capital. The firm was established in 1968 and has offices in Boston, California (Menlo Park), London, Mumbai, and Hong Kong.


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