- Tencent Holdings has acquired a 5% stake in Afterpay Ltd, which is an Australian shop-now-pay-later company
Tencent Holdings has acquired a 5% stake in Afterpay Ltd, which is an Australian shop-now-pay-later company. The investment was worth about A$390 million ($251.55 million) based on Afterpay’s closing price on Friday. The investment was confirmed by the lodgement of a notice of initial substantial holder on the Australian Securities Exchange on May 1, 2020.
Tencent provides Internet value-added services, including digital entertainment, online advertising, and FinTech and cloud services to users. And its communications platforms include Weixin, WeChat, and QQ. The company’s Weixin Pay service is the leading mobile payments platform in China, facilitating an average of over 1 billion commercial transactions per day.
Over the last few years, Tencent Holdings has also made investments in companies like Riot Games, Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, Supercell, Tesla Motors, Snap, and Frontier Developments.
Key Quotes:
“We feel very privileged to welcome Tencent as a substantial shareholder in our business. Being able to attract a strategic investor of this caliber is extremely rewarding and is a testament to our team and the strength of our differentiated business model.”
“Tencent’s investment provides us with the opportunity to learn from one of the world’s most successful digital platform businesses. To be able to tap into Tencent’s vast experience and network is valuable, as is the potential to collaborate in areas such as technology, geographic expansion and future payment options on the Afterpay platform.
“We remain focused on delivering value for our new and existing shareholders over the long term.”
-Afterpay co-founders Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar
“We are pleased to become investors in Afterpay. Inside China we operate the leading digital payment service and a rapidly growing FinTech platform, and outside China we have actively invested in pioneering FinTech companies, providing us with unique insights into emerging FinTech services. Afterpay’s approach stands out to us not just for its attractive business model characteristics, but also because its service aligns so well with consumer trends we see developing globally in terms of Afterpay’s customer centric, interest free approach as well as its integrated retail presence and ability to add significant value for its merchant base. We look forward to a deep and long-term business partnership between Tencent and Afterpay.”
-Tencent chief strategy officer James Mitchell
