BUCHAREST (Romania), October 21 (SeeNews) – Dutch-based trading platforms group OLX said on Wednesday that it will acquire Romanian credit broker KIWI Finance from Swedish investment fund ORESA for an undisclosed sum.
The potential transaction marks an important step in OLX Group's journey by adding financing related services to its portfolio in Romania, the group said in a press release.
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The transaction is to be completed by the end of the year, following approval from the Romanian Competition Council.
Once the deal is approved, OLX Group will be the sole shareholder of the company, which will be led by the current management team. Anca Bidian will continue to act as the CEO of KIWI Finance.
"The acquisition of KIWI Finance comes as a result of OLX Group’s confidence in growth prospects for the Romanian market and from the desire to expand our service proposition in the area of financing. We are certain we found the ideal partner in KIWI Finance to transform this vision into reality," OLX Group Europe CEO Marcin Urbanczyk said.
With the new shareholder’s support, KIWI Finance intends to accelerate its digital transformation while maintaining the same general growth objectives: national geographical expansion of its operations, streamlining operational processes and expanding the network of financial partners.
"We are confident we have found the best partner for meeting our growth objectives and we are excited that the digital transformation of KIWI Finance will be supported by the local OLX Group team," KIWI Finance CEO Anca Bidian said.
KIWI Finance is the largest credit broker in Romania, founded by Anca Bidian in 2003. In 2007, ORESA became the main shareholder of the company. Since its establishment, KIWI Finance intermediated loans of over 1.35 billion euro ($1.6 billion). Currently, the company is active in 35 cities across the country, where it works with over 200 brokers.
OnLine eXchange, widely known as OLX Group, is owned by global consumer internet group Prosus. OLX Group operates a global network of trading platforms globally, which serve 300 million people every month in over 30 countries.
In Romania, the group has a team of over 100 employees working for OLX, real estate platform Storia.ro and car selling platform Autovit.ro. OLX Romania has over 4 million active ads and an average of over 12 million monthly visitors.
ORESA is a family-owned equity investment company with Swedish roots, active in Romania since 1997. ORESA’s current portfolio include water bottling company La Fantana and Romanian Business Consult, an IT solutions integrator for the retail and food industries.
($=0.844 euro)