PayPal to Buy Japan’s Paidy for $3.67 Billion
It’s the latest in a flurry of deals involving ‘buy now, pay later’ companies
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PayPal Holdings Inc. agreed to buy Japanese “buy now, pay later” startup Paidy Inc. for about $2.7 billion, in a move that will boost its business in the world’s third-largest e-commerce market.
The transaction adds to a flurry of activity involving companies that let consumers pay for purchases in instalments, as an alternative to traditional forms of credit. In August, Square Inc. said it would buy Australia’s Afterpay Ltd. for about $39 billion, while Affirm Holdings Inc. entered a partnership with Amazon.com Inc., sending the financial-technology group’s shares soaring.
U.S.-listed PayPal says it has more than 400 million consumers and merchants in more than 200 markets. Its business has grown rapidly with the shift from cash and in-store card spending to digital payments and e-commerce. PayPal has used the pandemic’s shift toward contactless payments to push into big chain stores via QR codes.
In the second quarter, PayPal handled more than $400 billion of payments for the first time in its history.
PayPal will pay for Paidy primarily in cash, it said late Tuesday. It expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter and to minimally dilute earnings per share, as measured on a non-GAAP basis, or not in line with generally accepted accounting principles.
Paidy lets Japanese shoppers make purchases online and then make monthly payments in a consolidated bill at a convenience store or via bank transfer.
The company uses proprietary technology to score creditworthiness, underwrite transactions and guarantee payment to merchants, and says its 3-Pay monthly installment offering has more than 6 million registered users.
Paidy will continue to operate its existing business, retain its own brand, and continue to be led by Russell Cummer, founder and executive chairman, and Riku Sugie, president and chief executive.
Paidy’s backers include George Soros’s sons Jonathan and Robert. In April, Paidy said it had raised a total of $120 million of so-called Series D funding from the two men’s family offices, JS Capital Management LLC and Soros Capital Management LLC, as well from the investment managers Tybourne Capital Management Ltd. and Wellington Management.
BofA Securities Inc. acted as financial adviser to PayPal, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised Paidy.
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The latest round of policy boosts comes as stocks start the year on a soft note
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China’s securities regulator is ramping up support for the country’s embattled equities markets, announcing measures to funnel capital into Chinese stocks.
The aim: to draw in more medium to long-term investment from major funds and insurers and steady the equities market.
The latest round of policy boosts comes as Chinese stocks start the year on a soft note, with investors reluctant to add exposure to the market amid lingering economic woes at home and worries about potential tariffs by U.S. President Trump. Sharply higher tariffs on Chinese exports would threaten what has been one of the sole bright spots for the economy over the past year.
Thursday’s announcement builds on a raft of support from regulators and the central bank, as officials vow to get the economy back on track and markets humming again.
State-owned insurers and mutual funds are expected to play a pivotal role in the process of stabilizing the stock market, financial regulators led by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Finance said at a press briefing.
Insurers will be encouraged to invest 30% of their annual premiums earning from new policies into China’s A-shares market, said Xiao Yuanqi, vice minister at the National Financial Regulatory Administration.
At least 100 billion yuan, equivalent to $13.75 billion, of insurance funds will be invested in stocks in a pilot program in the first six months of the year, the regulators said. Half of that amount is due to be approved before the Lunar New Year holiday starting next week.
China’s central bank chimed in with some support for the stock market too, saying at the press conference that it will continue to lower requirements for companies to get loans for stock buybacks. It will also increase the scale of liquidity tools to support stock buyback “at the proper time.”
That comes after People’s Bank of China in October announced a program aiming to inject around 800 billion yuan into the stock market, including a relending program for financial firms to borrow from the PBOC to acquire shares.
Thursday’s news helped buoy benchmark indexes in mainland China, with insurance stocks leading the gains. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 1.0% at the midday break, extending opening gains. Among insurers, Ping An Insurance advanced 3.1% and China Pacific Insurance added 3.0%.
Kai Wang, Asia equity market strategist at Morningstar, thinks the latest moves could encourage investment in some of China’s bigger listed companies.
“Funds could end up increasing positions towards less volatile, larger domestic companies. This could end up benefiting some of the large-cap names we cover such as [Kweichow] Moutai or high-dividend stocks,” Wang said.
Shares in Moutai, China’s most valuable liquor brand, were last trading flat.
The moves build on past efforts to inject more liquidity into the market and encourage investment flows.
Earlier this month, the country’s securities regulator said it will work with PBOC to enhance the effectiveness of monetary policy tools and strengthen market-stabilization mechanisms. That followed a slew of other measures introduced last year, including the relaxation of investment restrictions to draw in more foreign participation in the A-share market.
So far, the measures have had some positive effects on equities, but analysts say more stimulus is needed to revive investor confidence in the economy.
Prior enthusiasm for support measures has hardly been enduring, with confidence easily shaken by weak economic data or disappointment over a lack of details on stimulus pledges. It remains to be seen how long the latest market cheer will last.
Mainland markets will be closed for the Lunar New Year holiday from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4.
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