Altech majority holder of NuPay

The deal gives Altech 50% plus one share in NuPayment Solutions (NuPay), which specialises in automating electronic debit orders, managing card transactions and the transfer of electronic funds. It processes more than 500000 transactions a month via 2800 points of presence.

Its main service is authenticated early debit orders, when people swipe a debit card in a terminal and enter a PIN so they can pay back their loans. The company runs the largest number of point-of-sale terminals in SA outside the banking industry.

NuPay is seen as complementary to Altech's Card Solutions division and should help it expand into new markets and boost its transaction volumes. It also runs a call centre and field support, which will be expanded to cover all the products and services in the card solutions division.

Venter expects other benefits to unfold, as Altech's vehicle tracking company Netstar and its cellular airtime retailer Autopage Cellular could use its services. Netstar has 500000 customers who pay their monthly subscriptions via debit orders, while Autopage has 1-million subscribers paying monthly bills that could be handled by NuPay. The managers and staff of the business will remain with the company as part of the deal.

In April, Altech paid R45m for Lateral Technology Concepts, and said another acquisition was also under way as good assets were becoming available at very attractive prices because of the financial crisis. But CEO Craig Venter said it was important not to deplete its cash pile too far in this climate, and it would still finish the year holding between R500m and R1bn in cash after its acquisitions.

Source: Business Day

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