Japan’s Mitsui & Co. Ltd. has announced the signing of an agreement to acquire a 14.9% share Russia’s QIWI, in a deal that was reached in late December 2010. Mitsui is making the investment as part of a larger strategy of getting involved in the area of electronic payment systems and payment terminals. Payment terminals are used extensively in the Russian market to pay utility bills, mobile phone service, and an assortment of other charges.
Once the acquisition is complete, QIWI management will own 63.7% of the company while Mail.ru Group’s stake will drop to 21.4%.
QIWI (www.qiwi.ru)
QIWI is a settlement services company providing electronic payments for a variety of e-commerce and other financial transactions in Russia, Eastern Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa, and the CIS region. As of June 2010, the company operated 160,000 point-of-sale locations, of which 100,000 were electronic payment terminals. The company is based in Cyprus and employees nearly 700 people. QIWI’s total sales revenue for 2009 was reported at RU 6.1 billion.
Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (www.mitsui.co.jp)
Mitsui is a Japanese general trading company with hundreds of subsidiaries active in a plethora of sectors. The company is heavily involved in commodities trading as well as investment financing, industrial projects, manufacturing, new technology development, food production and distribution, textiles, and much more.
The company operates in Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Originally established in 1947, Mitsui makes its headquarters in Tokyo and counts more than 41,000 employees on its payroll.
03/03/2011
Central & Eastern Europe, Internet, E-Commerce & E-Services, Private Equity News, Russia