(Square) Jack Dorsey’s payment company Square seeks to expand in the booming installment loan market with a $29 billion acquisition of Australian fintech entity Afterpay.
The all-stock deal represents about a 30% premium to Afterpay’s last closing price.
Square plans to integrate Afterpay into its seller and Cash App ecosystems.
The deal with Afterpay is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022.
The so-called installment or “pay later” loan products have been used in the past for big-ticket purchases. Now, online payment merchants are competing to launch them to cater for lower cost purchases.
SQ: NYSE is down -4.55% on premarket, APT: ASX is up +18.77%.
