Prosus aims to list fintech firm PayU in 2025 as the Dutch investor looks to shift more focus to India. On Wednesday it described the market as a pillar for its investment business after the stellar listing of food delivery and quick commerce firm Swiggy netted it gains of $2 billion.
PayU, which is wholly owned by Prosus, had initially planned to list by this year at a valuation of between $5 billion and $7 billion. “We’re late into 2024 already, but we hope that it could be a 2025 event,” said Ervin Tu, Prosus’ chief investment officer, in a call with journalists.
The payment and lending firm recently emerged from a 15-month regulatory ban on new merchant acquisitions and received approval to operate as a payment aggregator in April. It competes with Razorpay and Walmart-owned PhonePe in India’s fast-growing digital payments market.
In a recent note to clients, UBS ascribed a valuation of $4.2 billion to PayU, up from $3.7 billion, driven by higher trading multiples among global payment peers. Prosus sold the global business of PayU last year.
Prosus, controlled by Naspers, is an investor in several late-stage Indian startups including social commerce company Meesho and home services provider Urban Company. Its chief executive, Fabricio Bloisi, said more portfolio companies could go public within 18 months.