(Bloomberg) — Payment services provider DLocal Ltd. is analyzing whether to buy a smaller fintech rival this year after the company itself was the target of takeover proposals, Chief Executive Officer Pedro Arnt said in an interview Monday. DLocal, a business-to-business payments platform, wants an acquisition that brings new products and services or market share, especially outside of Latin America, Arnt added. He expects any potential acquisition to be worth less than 10% of the company’s market capitalization. “The backdrop is more amenable to finding assets at a good price that are worth purchasing,” Arnt said in reference to the difficult funding environment for some fintechs. “There is a higher chance than in the past that we could acquire something in the near future.” While declining to comment if DLocal is in talks to buy a company, Arnt confirmed that he was approached last year by at least one firm to acquire DLocal itself. “There is a fiduciary responsibility to at least listen,” he said during the interview in Punta del Este, Uruguay. “Those conversations rarely get anywhere because DLocal is not for sale.” The global payments industry is consolidating as companies look to gain scale amid the switch from cash to digital payments fueled by a surge in transaction volumes. DLocal acquired PrimeiroPay for about $40 million in 2021, while the Montevideo-based company is one of about half a dozen payments firms that are periodically the subjects of takeover chatter. Arnt and major shareholders such as General Atlantic probably don’t have an incentive to sell the company now given its depressed stock price and competitive advantages in emerging markets payments, Susquehanna International Group senior technology analyst Jamie Friedman said. “I don’t think there is anything in the investment thesis that has changed in the last five years. Why would you pull the plug now?” said Friedman, who has a positive rating and $14 price target on the stock. DLocal’s stock has dropped about 29% since August 2023 when Arnt left e-commerce giant MercadoLibre Inc. as its chief financial officer to take the top job at the Uruguayan fintech. DLocal was briefly worth more than $20 billion less than three months after it listed on Nasdaq in June 2021. But the stock succumbed to a global correction in fintech shares, fraud accusations by short seller Muddy Waters and a regulatory probe in Argentina. The stock traded 1.1% higher at $11.08 on Tuesday, valuing the company at about $3.3 billion. Arnt sees the emerging markets payments industry as big enough to justify a return to valuations north of $20 billion again if DLocal can keep its leadership position in that space. He plans to continue spending on new products, digital infrastructure and hiring more software engineers this year to support rising payment volumes during the next decade. “We’re trying to accomplish that while simultaneously maintaini
Mer. Gen 15th, 2025
