Naspers-owned Prosus has terminated its $4.7 billion agreement to acquire payments provider BillDesk, a month after the deal between Prosus arm PayU and shareholders of BillDesk was cleared by the Competition Commission of India.
"BillDesk shareholders are shocked. This was very last minute. A multinational corporation (MNC) has signed a binding contract in India and is walking away," said a person directly aware of the development.
"We will explore what needs to be done contractually and legally against Prosus," the person further on condition of anonymity.
While PayU secured the approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on 5 September, 2022, the deal's closure was subject to several other clearances.
The completion of the deal was expected to have shored up PayU's parent firm Prosus' total investments in India to about $12 billion.
Naspers, which has invested over $6 billon in India's technology sector since 2005, first announced the acquisition deal last August, paving way for one the largest consolidation in India's fintech sector.
However, it formally announced the deal after responding to a show-cause notice issued by the CCI, to which was required to respond by August 2022.
It filed a revised merger notification in April this year, addressing the competition regulator's queries. PayU said the acquisition is not likely to cause any considerable adverse effect on competition in India's fintech sector owing to the highly competitive and dynamic nature of the markets.
