Private equity giant KKR & Co. is poised to hand over embattled payments firm Unzer to a group of creditors, according to people familiar with the matter.
(Bloomberg) — Private equity giant KKR & Co. is poised to hand over embattled payments firm Unzer to a group of creditors, according to people familiar with the matter.
Debt providers Alcentra Asset Management Ltd, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Partners Group have agreed in principle to take over a majority stake in Unzer, providing fresh equity while foregoing some debt, said the people, who declined to be identified because the information is private.
KKR is set to retain a minority interest as part of the deal, they said. The transaction still requires regulatory approval, the people said.
“Unzer has recently received substantial funding to accelerate its growth following an agreement with our shareholders and a consortium of existing investors,” KKR and Unzer said in a joint statement.
“The new investment strengthens our capital structure and bolsters our liquidity” and KKR will continue to have an economic interest in the payments firm, the statement said, without providing further details.
Spokespeople for Alcentra, Goldman and Partners Group declined to comment.
When it first acquired control in 2019, KKR touted Unzer — then operating under its previous name of Heidelpay — as “one of the fastest-growing full-service payment providers in Europe.” It appointed Commerzbank AG’s former chief executive officer, Martin Blessing, as chairman of its advisory board in 2022.
After a shopping spree that included the point-of-sale and terminal business of now-defunct Wirecard AG and payment service provider QuickPay, Unzer’s rapid growth came to a halt in 2022. That year, Germany’s financial watchdog banned its subsidiary Unzer E-Com from taking on new clients, citing “serious shortcomings.”
The watchdog said weak anti-money laundering controls expose the firm to abuse by organized crime and imposed a fine. The German regulator is still monitoring the company.
KKR originally took up a debt package of about €300 million ($328 million) to help fund the original purchase of Unzer, which was then topped up for several follow-on acquisitions, one of the people said.
–With assistance from Silas Brown.
(Updates detail on Unzer E-Com ban in eighth paragraph.)
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