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Investment firm KKR has agreed to purchase up to 40 billion euros ($43.71 billion), of PayPal’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) loans in Europe, the payments company said on June 20, according to a report by news agency Reuters.
Even though BNPL remains popular after the pandemic-led surge in its use among millennials and Gen Z customers, the sector’s fortunes turned last year as rising interest rates and soaring inflation dampened the purchasing power of consumers, said the report.
PayPal shares rose two per cent in premarket trading on the news of the deal, which is expected to generate about $1.8 billion in gross proceeds and close in the second half the year, said news agency Reuters.
The company said its growth forecast for adjusted profit, made in May, of about 20 per cent on a per share basis, which was above Wall Street estimates, already included the deal.
After the deal closes, PayPal expects to allocate roughly $1 billion to incremental share repurchases in 2023, contributing to an updated outlook of about $5 billion in total share repurchases so far this year.
Last year, PayPal processed more than $20 billion of BNPL payment volume globally, up nearly 160 per cent from 2021. Since launching its BNPL service in 2020, PayPal has issued more than 200 million loans to over 30 million customers globally.
The company said it will continue to remain responsible for all customer-facing activities, including underwriting and servicing associated with its European BNPL products, added Reuters.
Meanwhile, Mint recently reported that KKR has appointed its India chief executive Gaurav Trehan as the buyout firm’s Asia head for private equity (PE). Trehan will take over as KKR PE head for Asia from previous co-heads Ashish Shastry and Hiro Hirano.
While Hirano has been named executive vice chairman of KKR in Asia Pacific, Shastry will become an adviser, according to a Bloomberg report. Trehan’s elevation is part of an overhaul of KKR’s Asia leadership, the report added.