| Wed 24 Aug 2011, 7:05 | | ALT - Allied Technologies Limited - Altech acquires Eyenza Mobile Money |
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ALT - Allied Technologies Limited - Altech acquires Eyenza Mobile Money
Allied Technologies Limited
Member of the Altron Group
Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa
Registration number: 1946/020415/06)
Share code: ALT
ISIN number: ZAE000015251
Altech acquires Eyenza Mobile Money
JSE listed Allied Technologies Limited (Altech) today announced the
acquisition of 100% of the equity in Eyenza Mobile Money (Pty) Ltd (Eyenza).
The acquisition follows the completion of a satisfactory due diligence of
Eyenza by Altech and approval by the board of Altech.
Eyenza Mobile Money is a wallet based system whereby a deposit is made into a
central pool account after the user has registered and a wallet is created
and linked to the user`s MSISDN number. The user can then transact to the
value of the deposit (funds in their wallet).
Commenting on the acquisition, Altech CEO Craig Venter had the following to
say: "Altech has long identified the need to become involved in this rapidly
growing area in the mobile payments market, but it has taken time to identify
what we believe is a suitable point of entry. We believe that Eyenza
incorporates all the necessary components that will allow Altech to
successfully move into this progressive market."
"Eyenza`s offering is unique as it can offer very competitive prices on its
services due to its low cost structure and convenience factor. Currently, the
unbanked population of South Africa has large monetary and inconvenience
costs associated with transferring money to family members, paying of bills
and purchasing pre-paid products. This service is set to change that."
According to Johan van der Westhuizen, the CEO of Eyenza, the acquisition by
Altech will have a positive impact on Eyenza going forward.
"Altech has a successful track record of developing new and innovative
products and services for the ICT sector and now with their backing and
support we will be able to take our mobile money services to the next level
and become an important participant in this growing market," he said.
The Eyenza service offering is bank and mobile network operator-agnostic in
that it offers vending services with no requirement for pre-registered bank
accounts and no restriction on existing banking partner or cellular provider
and can be directly marketed to the unbanked.
Eyenza is not affiliated to any mobile or banking brand so it does not
require an existing registered bank account and can be directly marketed to
the unbanked.
"Eyenza incorporates a range of key success factors," said Venter. "It is
both bank and MNO (Mobile Network Operator) independent; it does not require
a special cellular phone or SIM Card; user registration is easily
accomplished from the handset; and it can be operated via any of the four
primary mobile communications channels (USSD, SMS, Java and data)."
Services currently offered include prepaid airtime, prepaid electricity,
third party payment services (clothing accounts etc.) and making transfers to
other account holders.
In time, Eyenza mobile money services will be expanded to include:
* Insurance cover - Funeral, life, household etc.
* Microloan distribution
* Lotto and sports betting
* Third party bill payments
* Retail payments
* Payroll distribution
* Government grants (Including pensions, child grants etc.)
* Agri-aid distribution and payment.
* Money transfer to third parties (i.e. non-Eyenza users)
* Loyalty programs
* Public transport - linked to embedded PayPass / PayWave contactless
payment devices in handsets
* Pre-approved medical funding distribution
* On-line fast-food ordering
* Wireless-G data top-up
* Toll-Wallet top-up
Venter says there are significant market opportunities in mobile money
services.
"Mobile money payment services are expected to reach US$245 billion in value
worldwide by 2014. At the same time, mobile money users are expected to total
340 million, equivalent to 5% of all global mobile subscribers."
Additionally, the acquisition is part of Altech`s strategic aim to capitalise
on its existing businesses and grow market share through a range of value
added services.
"Exploiting the synergies between our operations and moving customers up the
value chain is all part of our growth drive and we see opportunities with
other Altech operations, from the selling of prepaid airtime by Altech
Autopage to Altech Card Solutions developing the Eyenza POS front-end
applications for deployed terminal devices."
According to Venter, Eyenza`s service offering is also perfectly suited to
the unbanked environment in Africa and would provide a significant
opportunity to leverage the presence Altech already has in East and West
Africa. This will allow Altech to broaden its client base into Africa and
will allow delivery of additional Altech product offerings abroad.
"The Eyenza model is easily replicable in other African and Asian
environments and the major development costs have already been incurred" he
said.
To preserve current efficiencies and standards, Altech will retain existing
Eyenza management and staff whilst it provides supporting administration
services and strategic input to the company.
"The current CEO, Johan van der Westhuizen, and key employees have entered
into five year service contracts in order to ensure a smooth transition into
the Altech fold and I am positive that Eyenza will become a valuable addition
to the Altech Group," concluded Venter.
24 August 2011
Sponsor:
Investec Bank Limited
Date: 24/08/2011 07:05:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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