Update at 3:30 pm, 03/10/2022: On October 3rd, PayU pulled out of its $4.7 billion acquisition of BillDesk. In a stock exchange filing, parent company Prosus stated that "PayU secured CCI approval on 5 September 2022. However, certain conditions precedent were not fulfilled by the 30 September 2022 long stop date, and the agreement has terminated automatically in accordance with its terms and, accordingly, the proposed transaction will not be implemented." Prosus-backed PayU's acquisition of online billing service BillDesk has been greenlit by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), according to a Tweet by the market regulator on Monday evening. Why it matters: While a detailed CCI order is pending, the $4.7 billion deal is reportedly the second-largest 'Internet buyout' (of an internet-based company) in India following Walmart's acquisition of Flipkart for $16 billion in 2018. Once combined, PayU projects the two entities to process Total Payment Values of $147 billion. This is also PayU's fourth buyout in India's fintech segment in less than five years—after CitrusPay, Wibmo, and Paysense. It will increase Prosus's investments in India's fintech and payments sector to over $10 billion. The deal is awaiting final regulatory approval from the Reserve Bank of India. The acquisition was first announced in August 2021. At the time, PayU executives told reporters that while the deal required the CCI's nod, 'they don’t expect much hurdle in receiving the approval as PayU and BillDesk offer complementary businesses'. This was hardly how the deal unfolded in India. The approval comes after over a year of…
