Dubai: Network International Holdings plc, the Dubai headquartered enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa on Tuesday announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire DPO Group (DPO), an online commerce platform in Africa.
The acquisition is valued at a total consideration of approximately $288 million.
The cost of acquisition will be almost entirely funded through the proceeds from an equity placing representing 10 per cent of Network’s existing issued share capital, $50 million vendor consideration shares issued to Apis Growth Fund I, managed by Apis Partners (Apis), $13 million consideration shares issued to the DPO co-founders, with any small remaining balance to be funded via existing debt facilities.
DPO is the largest online commerce platform operating across Africa. The company has a rapid growth profile with revenue CAGR of about 40 per cent from 2017-2019 and total processed volume at compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 30 per cent from 2017-2019 and revenues of $16 million in 2019. The company also provides e-commerce and mobile money services for more than 47,000 merchants across high quality brands.
"Africa is a vast and diverse continent, representing the world’s most underpenetrated, nascent and fast growing payments markets, where we have seen recent signs of an acceleration in those trends. DPO will further consolidate our presence in Africa, strengthen our position across the entire payments value chain and accelerate our growth,” said Simon Haslam, Chief Executive Officer of Network.
DPO is present in 19 countries across Africa with South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania representing major markets. Africa is expected to represent about 40 per cent of Network International's total revenue by 2024 compared to 27 per cent reported in 2019.
