By Rory Gallivan
LONDON--Shares in Monitise PLC (MONI.LN) jumped after the
British mobile banking technology company announced a joint venture
with its shareholder Banco Santander SA (SAN.MC) to invest in
financial technology businesses.
Monitise, which already works with the Spanish bank on mobile
banking projects, said both partners will provide up to 10 million
pounds ($15.9 million) to the venture over two years.
Monitise said it will benefit from a "multi-million pound
upfront license fee with further ongoing revenues expected to be
generated by the initiative," adding that it expects to grow its
client list by providing services to the companies the joint
venture will support.
The joint venture will be led by Julio Faura, an "innovation
leader" at Santander, and chaired by Monitise founder and former
chief executive Alastair Lukies, Monitise said.
The share price rise is a welcome boost for Monitise, a former
darling of the U.K. tech scene whose valuation has been battered
since passing GBP1 billion last year. The valuation has been hit by
a series of revenue warnings and the loss of payment card company
Visa Inc. (V) as a major shareholder.
In November, Santander and Monitise announced a technology
partnership that involved the former taking a 5% stake in the
latter for GBP33 million, in a subscription of 108.2 million shares
at 30.5 pence a share.
Shares had risen by a penny, or 9.3%, to 12 pence at 0917 GMT,
valuing the company at GBP254.2 million.
Write to Rory Gallivan at rory.gallivan@wsj.com; Twitter:
@RoryGallivan
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