Business News
Visa to acquire fintech company, Plaid, for $5.3 billion
Popular payments company, Visa, has announced that it is acquiring fintech startup, Plaid, in a deal worth $5.3 billion. #PLAID #VISA
Popular payments company, Visa, has announced that it is acquiring fintech startup, Plaid, in a deal worth $5.3 billion.
Plaid, which is known for using its API software to connect startups to users’ bank accounts, had Visa and its rival, Mastercard as early investors before they shot into limelight. Other investors include the venture arms of Citi and American express and Goldman Sachs.
Zach Perret, Plaid
While speaking on the deal, the Chief Executive Officer, Visa, Al Kelly, said Plaid had undergone a compound annual growth rate of roughly 100% since 2015. He made known that the deal would benefit both parties as it would position Visa for expansion in terms of its total addressable market and relationships with fintech companies while also boosting Plaid’s growth.
Elated Kelly told CNBC that the deal had the ability to accelerate Visa’s revenue over time, as it could add as much as 100 basis points to the company’s net revenue growth by 2021.
Chief Executive officer, Plaid, Zach Perret disclosed that the company had gotten to know Visa through its initial strategic investment in Plaid and since then series of conversations happened leading up to the deal.
[READ MORE: Nigeria’s IHS Towers acquires Brazil’s Cell Site Solutions from Goldman Sachs)
Perret, who co-founded the company with a former colleague William Hockey, said the Visa brand would help Plaid scale its products and global footprint.
“We feel fortunate to have been there for the early days of fintech, and to have helped develop that ecosystem, This represents an important milestone, and the ability to work with Visa to make our products much bigger and better — both domestically and internationally,” Perret said in an interview.
What you should know: Ever since the Silicon Valley start-up launched in 2013, it has integrated more than 11,000 banks and connected more than 20 million consumer accounts. Plaid has also raised $250 million in a 2018 Series C funding round that launched its valuation to $2.7 billion.
Plaid added that its customer base doubled from 2017 to 2018 and has expanded to the United Kingdom and Canada.
Macro-Economic News
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Business News
BUA Group, French company announce progress in 200,000 bpd refinery project
This is coming about 6 months after both firms signed an agreement for the supply of process technologies and the design of the facility.
The BUA Group and Axens, a French-based petroleum technology company, have both signed a progress acknowledgement statement for the proposed BUA multi-billion-dollar integrated 200,000 barrels per day refinery in Akwa Ibom State.
This is coming about 6 months after both firms signed an agreement for the supply of process technologies and the design of the facility.
BUA, while making the disclosure in a statement on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, said that the French President, Emmanuel Macron, commended its Chairman, Abdul Samad Rabiu, for his commitment to developing lasting relationships between French and Nigerian businesses.
READ: What the $1.5 billion Port Harcourt refinery deal means to us – Maire Tecnimont
The statement said that this came as the French Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, Franck Riester, paid a visit to the BUA Group Headquarters in Lagos where he handed over a personal invitation from Macron to Rabiu to attend the Choose France Summit in June in Paris representing business leaders from Nigeria and Africa.
The French minister also witnessed the signing of a progress acknowledgement statement between BUA Group and Axens of France for the proposed refinery project, according to the statement.
The statement also said that during the visit, it was announced that the BUA chairman had been appointed Chairman of the France Nigeria Investment Club.
READ: FG reacts to reports of revoking 32 refinery licenses
While thanking the minister and Macron for their unwavering support in bringing BUA and French businesses together, Rabiu said BUA had so far initiated partnerships and had developed personal relationships with a few French businesses, including Axens.
He expressed confidence in the quality of expertise and technical know-how of the French companies BUA had partnered with.
Rabiu pointed out that the BUA refinery would reduce the huge cost of transporting Nigerian crude offshore, refining it and bringing it back into the country when fully operational.
READ: Abdulsamad Rabiu’s stake in BUA Cement has increased by N1.2 trillion in value since listing in 2020
He said that the choice of Akwa Ibom for the refinery was due to the huge availability of raw materials and its proximity to export petroleum products to regional countries.
The President of Axens, Jean Sentenac, in his statement, said he was pleased that the project was advancing on schedule and expressed delight for the very good cooperation between all the involved parties, reiterating the commitment of Axens in delivering the BUA Refinery Project on time and with the highest standards.
READ: FG to open LPG distribution channels in all local governments
Bottom line
The completion and take-off of the refinery owned by the BUA Group would come as a huge boost for the Federal Government’s effort to stop the importation of refined petroleum products, ensuring that the country becomes a net exporter of these products.
This will also help to conserve the scarce foreign exchange as the completion and take-off of the Dangote refinery and other similar refinery projects will help ensure self-sufficiency in the country.
The BUA Group, just a few days ago, was listed as one of the companies with an active refinery license from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
President Macron lauds Abdul Samad Rabiu as BUA, Axens make progress on BUA’s 200,000bpd Refinery in Akwa Ibom
…Appoints Abdul Samad Rabiu as Chairman of the French Nigeria Investment Club.
Lagos – 14apr2021
./1 pic.twitter.com/tOoOsDW3lZ
— BUA Group (@BUAgroup) April 14, 2021
