Major investment in UAE’s leading digital payment provider highlights growth potential in the Middle East
Arcapita Group Holdings Limited, a global alternative investment firm headquartered in Bahrain, and Dgpays, one of the leading financial infrastructure technology providers in the EMEA region, has signed an alliance contract with one of the UAE’s top financial institutions, Mashreq. The consortium acquired a majority stake in the unit of Mashreq, Neopay, valued at approximately $385 million.
Neopay has thus emerged as one of the most exciting and promising medium business growth enablers in the UAE through its fastest payment solutions provider. Launched as a strategic division of Mashreq, Neopay has grown significantly in various sectors, such as retail, hospitality, government, and e-commerce, showcasing a vibrant economy with this line of a tech-savvy youth force, strong GDP growth, and fast-paced government transformation for the cashless society.
The new acquisition by Neopay puts it firmly in line to corner a major chunk of the fast-growing card transactions value projected to rise double-digit in the UAE over the next five years. Acquisition is a key milestone in the Emirati group’s plans to benefit from the fast-emerging segment in Middle Eastern digital payments.
The support provided by the Arcapita-Dgpays consortium will enable Neopay to accelerate its growth pace through expanding its services using the advanced technology of Dgpays.
Dgpays CEO Serkan Omerbeyoglu was quoted as saying about the tie-up, “We are thrilled to partner with Mashreq in supporting Neopay’s transformative journey. Neopay has shown magnificent growth and innovation within the digital payments space of the UAE, and we believe that there is tremendous scope to continue the success of Neopay in the Middle East.”
This integration of our fintech solutions with Neopay’s strong platform opens up opportunities for new routes in growth and innovation and offers these highly advanced solutions to both enterprise and SME markets in the UAE and broader GCC regions.
Atif A. Abdulmalik, Arcapita’s CEO, notes that the acquisition is strategically aligned with the firm’s broader investment approach – the company focuses on acquiring market-leading companies with high growth potential, supported by favourable macroeconomic trends.
He said Neopay is well positioned to capitalise on the UAE’s continuous push towards digitization of payments spurred by rising GDP, digitally aware youth, and now the government itself. Arcapita believes it would continue to back the company into its new growth phase-expanding value-added services and expanding in other markets.
It marks a major milestone in Neopay’s growth trajectory. This is exciting for Mashreq to have a majority stake, but more importantly Arcapita and Dgpays’ expertise will help drive the company’s future expansion plans across the region,” said Abdelaal, group CEO of Mashreq.
Neopay CEO Vibhor Mundhada said in regards to the partnership and the next growth phase saying that Neopay has firmly established itself as a market leader in the digital payments space by continually innovating and adding value for clients. With the technology and financial muscle of their new shareholders, and with Mashreq remaining a backer, they are well-positioned to boost their growth momentum within the UAE and across the broader Middle East region.
We at Neopay continue to lead in the advancement of e-commerce payments, allowing for widening digital payments in the region, said Mundhada.
The deal is being considered a significant development for the UAE’s financial sector and the Middle East digital payments market in general, which holds huge prospects for growth, supported by favourable demographics and a rapidly growing digital economy.
