Qiwi again defers second payment for JSC Qiwi by three months at buyer's request
MOSCOW. Aug 21 (Interfax) - The board of directors of Qiwi group has again approved extending for three months until November 19 the timeframe for a second payment as part of the transaction to sell JSC Qiwi, the group said a press release.
Initially, payment of 11.875 billion rubles was to be made within four months after the conclusion of the deal, that by May 19. The group had already received a first tranche of 100 million rubles, and the deadline for receiving the remaining amount in May was extended by three months until August 19 at the request of the buyer.
Qiwi said in the press release that on August 6, 2024, Fusion Factor Fintech had again asked to postpone the second payment as "certain recent developments of the Russian business have substantially complicated its ability to timely settle the liability for the second installment."
Qiwi closed a deal at the end of January to sell its Russian assets consolidated under JSC Qiwi to the Hong Kong company, Fusion Factor Fintech Limited, which belongs to the former CEO of Qiwi plc, Andrei Protopopov. The transaction price was 23.75 billion rubles. These assets include Qiwi Bank, Qiwi wallet, Qiwi business, the Contact money transfer system, Rowi, Realweb, Flocktory, Taxi Aggregator, IntellectMoney and a number of other assets.
Payment on the deal was to be made in several installments over four years, including 11.9 billion rubles within four months after entering into the transaction and the remainder in four equal annual installments starting in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The Central Bank of Russia revoked Qiwi Bank's license on February 21. The bank went into temporary administration under the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA). Later, in March, the agency filed a lawsuit against the bank's owners to challenge the sale of JSC Qiwi. A lawyer for the DIA said in court that Fusion Factor Fintech had already paid the first part of the payment under the transaction by taking a loan from Protopopov. According to the court's case file, the first tranche payment was 100 million rubles.
