LONDON, February 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Monitise plc (LSE: MONI.L) ("Monitise", the "Company" or the
"Group") announces the acquisition of Pozitron Yazilim A.S., a
privately-owned mobile technology company based in Turkey, delivering mobile banking, payments
and commerce solutions to businesses in its home market, the
Middle East and
internationally.
"This acquisition of Pozitron further reinforces our leading
position as a global technology enabler at the heart of the Mobile
Money ecosystem," said Monitise Group Chief Executive Alastair Lukies. "It comes at a time when we are
seeing increasing demand for interoperable Mobile Money services as
payments become more digital by the day, not only in Turkey, Europe and the Middle East but also around the world."
The entire issued share capital of Pozitron has been acquired
via an all share deal. The initial consideration is to be satisfied
by the issue of 35,925,589 new ordinary shares of 1p each in the
Company ("Ordinary Shares"), valued at £24m, based on the closing
share price of 66.5p on Friday 31 January,
2014, with an earn-out consideration of up to £36m payable,
in Ordinary Shares or cash at Monitise's discretion, on the
achievement of aggressive performance-related targets over three
years. Pozitron, like Monitise, is achieving high revenue growth
rates. The Pozitron business, with around 130 employees, is
profitable, debt free and has a £2m cash balance on
acquisition.
Istanbul-based Pozitron, a
leading business in Turkey's
Mobile Money space, powers next generation Mobile Money solutions
for more than 30 leading enterprises across banking, telecoms,
retail and pharmaceuticals, including Turkish Airlines, eBay, ING,
TEB, which is part of BNP Paribas, GlaxoSmithKline and
Hepsiburada.com, Turkey's
equivalent to Amazon. Financial services partners in its home
market include Türkiye İş Bankası, the largest bank in Turkey, Yapı Kredi, the fourth-largest private
bank in Turkey and BKM, the
country's national payments switch. In the Middle East, Pozitron's customers include ANB,
one of the largest 15 banks in the Middle
East, and QIB, the largest Islamic bank in Qatar.
The Pozitron business, which has been led by Chief Executive and
Turkish entrepreneur Fatih İşbecer, will report into Peter Radcliffe, President, International,
Monitise.
İşbecer founded the business in 2000, initially as a software
development company before evolving it to a mobile-first technology
business in 2005. Pozitron, which won the Global Business Plan
Contest organised by Harvard Business
School in 2008 for an integrated mobile banking product, is
a Deloitte Top 10 fastest growing
business in Turkey and a Deloitte
Technology Fast500 EMEA winner in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
"When we began putting mobile at the heart of our commercial
focus nine years ago, we had a vision for how innovative design and
ease-of-use could change how people manage their money on the
move," said İşbecer. "Joining Monitise accelerates that vision and
gives us access to the Group's unrivalled technologies and
expertise. We look forward to being part of the Monitise team as
demand grows for Mobile Money solutions."
Commenting on the acquisition, Monitise's Peter Radcliffe said: "Fatih and his team has
positioned Pozitron as a leader in its field, delivering
best-in-class, easy-to-use mobile engineering and user experience
and design capabilities for clients in Turkey, the Middle
East and beyond."
Peter Radcliffe added: "Banks,
processors, telcos and retailers all need to create secure,
interoperable Mobile Money services which defend them against
disintermediation, generate new revenue opportunities and enable
them to play a wider role in their customers' lives. Monitise and
Pozitron have a common vision: to help these businesses navigate
their way through the Mobile Money landscape. This deal is an
important step in that journey."
Application has been made for the 35,925,589 Ordinary Shares to
be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission"). The new Ordinary
Shares will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares in
the Company and it is expected that dealings in these new Ordinary
Shares will commence on 4 February
2014.
Following Admission, Monitise will have 1,679,816,170 Ordinary
Shares in issue. This figure may be used by shareholders as the
denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if
they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their
interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and
Transparency Rules.
About Monitise
Monitise (LSE: MONI) is a world leader in Mobile Money -
banking, paying and buying with a mobile device. Leading banks,
payments companies, retailers and mobile networks utilise
Monitise's technology platforms and services to securely connect
people with their money.
Already 24 million consumers benefit from our patented
technology to 'bank anywhere', 'pay anyone' and 'buy anything',
accounting for $50bn of payments,
purchases and transfers annually. More information is available at
http://www.monitise.com.
Monitise plc contacts
Tel: +44(0)203-657-0900
Alastair Lukies, Chief Executive Officer
Lee Cameron, Chief Commercial
Officer
Brad Petzer, Chief Financial
Officer
Mike Keyworth, Chief Information
Officer
Investor Relations
Andrew Griffin, Haya Herbert-Burns
Tel: +44(0)203-657-0366
investorrelations@monitise.com
Media Relations
Gavin Haycock
Tel: +44(0)203-657-0362
Gavin.haycock@monitise.com
Canaccord Genuity
Simon Bridges
Tel: +44(0)20-7523-8000
Cameron Duncan
FTI Consulting
Tel: +44(0)20-7831-3113
Charles Palmer
Jon Snowball
SOURCE Monitise plc