Square Inc. has decided to enter into a Scheme Implementation Deed with Afterpay to acquire the Afterpay shares by a Scheme of Arrangement approved by the Court. Afterpay is internationally renowned as the ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ platform. Through the partnership between Afterpay and Square Inc., Afterpay will drive the strategic priorities of Square for the ecosystems of Seller and Cash app. Square Inc. also seeks integration between Afterpay and the business units of Seller and Cash app to empower the merchants of every scale to provide BNPL facility at the checkout. The integration shall enable the users of Afterpay to handle their installment payment transactions directly through the Cash app of Square Inc., enabling Cash app customers to detect BNPL offers and merchants directly from the app.
The share acquisition transaction has a transactional value of around US$29 billion that is based on the closing price of the Square Inc. shares as of July 30, 2021. By acquiring Afterpay shares, Square Inc. seeks to promote an improvement in the delivery of financial services and products to increase their accessibility to more consumers and boost incremental revenue for every merchant. The partnership between Square Inc. and BNPL shall enable the BNPL platform to shift the general preferences of the users from traditional credit payment to more convenient systems to promote growth in sales in omni-channel commerce. The combined business of Afterpay and Square Inc. shall drive development at multiple strategic levels. Afterpay shall reap huge benefits from the partnership by acquiring the huge client base of Square Inc. that comprises thousands of sellers and approx. 70 million Cash app users. Another benefit for Afterpay is that the platform’s consumers shall receive the financial tools of the Cash app that include Cash Boost, Bitcoin purchases, stock purchases, money transfers, and more.