Paris, January 25, 2021 – Alma, the French fintech offering installment payments and pay later solutions for merchants and consumers, has just completed a €49 million Series B financing round with investment funds Cathay Innovation, Seaya Ventures, Idinvest, Bpifrance via its Large Venture fund and Picus Capital. This round of financing will help accelerate the large-scale development of Alma’s service offer for retailers. On top of this, the current outstanding debt contracted by the company to finance merchants amounts to approximately €21 million, with a mix of institutional investors (70%) and HNWI (30%).

Nearly one year after a €12.5 million Series A round of equity funding, Alma continues to grow. Founded by Louis Chatriot and Guillaume Desloges in 2017, the company keeps on innovating to provide merchants with a way to increase their sales and customer satisfaction, while giving consumers greater control over their budgets. Moreover, this desire to constantly innovate is fully in line with changes in consumer purchasing habits that were accelerated by the successive lockdowns and temporary closures of most retail stores.

“This new round of financing is a validation of the continued trust of our investors in our vision of retail. With their support, we are able to continue developing our service offering, in line with our desire to make payment facilities available to an ever-growing number of merchants and consumers” explains Louis Chatriot, co-founder and CEO of Alma.

Didier Valet, former Deputy CEO of Société Générale and the latest member on Alma’s Board of Directors adds: “The institutional refinancing framework set up by Alma allows the company to offer retailers of all sizes its solutions, which bring a real breath of fresh air to this industry.”

€49M to strengthen its presence on the European market in 2021

With this latest funding round, Alma will consolidate its presence on a significant French market made up of more than 600,000 merchants of all sizes. This comes at a time when retailers have become fully aware of the need to digitize in an uncertain economic context.

Alma’s goals for 2020 centered around responding to these concerns by providing simple payment solutions for merchants. This was shown by the rollout of BNPL payment through Pay Later and B2B payment. In addition, Alma has tied partnerships with marketplaces such as Ankorstore to lighten the burden on cash-strapped retailers.

2021 will mark an acceleration of Alma’s activities both in France and abroad with an aim to keep on supporting retailers operating in France and in many European countries. To do so, the company intends to triple its workforce and the number of merchants using its services; Alma is expecting to process an annual volume of payments exceeding 1 billion euros within 2 years.

The company will also be focusing on the design of new products such as up to 12 times installment payments, the improvement of the products they are already providing to retailers and establishing partnerships with B2B marketplaces. Alma’s stated objective is to meet consumers’ new payment expectations, while becoming an essential partner for retailers.

“We have spent a lot of time analyzing the lending sector, and in particular the Buy Now Pay Later market, across Europe and have been impressed with the talent and execution capabilities of Louis, Guillaume and the team, as well as with the company’s brand, product and technology. We are delighted to join them in their journey to become the European leader and are proud to support their growth, in and outside France” says Aristotelis Xenofontos, Director at Seaya Ventures.

“Alma meets a real need for both retailers and consumers. In the context of the pandemic and economic turmoil, Alma has demonstrated the usefulness of its innovative payment solutions which have positive economic and social impact on its ecosystem. We fully share Alma’s vision and we are confident in their ability to anticipate and support major changes in the retail industry. Alma has a great future ahead and we are proud to support its development in France and abroad”, adds Jacky Abitbol, Partner at Cathay Innovation.

“Louis, Guillaume and the entire Alma team are proving on a daily basis that a combination of talent, technology and ambition enabled them to durably set a foot in an already mature market. Idinvest has supported Alma since its first financing round, closely monitoring how the company and its production capabilities have grown along the way. Alma is still at the beginning of its journey and we are proud to support the team in the long run”, explains Nicolas Debock, Managing Director at Idinvest.

“BNPL and installment payment markets are constantly growing with retailers having to adapt their business model to ever-changing customers’ needs, enabling them to reach higher conversion rates. Alma is uniquely positioned to help businesses in meeting their needs and to become a leader of the payment market. We are highly impressed with the incredible performance of Louis and its team over the past two years”, says Olivia de la Rivière, Growth Equity Investor at Bpifrance Large Venture fund.

Alma broadens its service offering by removing obstacles to payment at the time of purchase

In 2020, the significant acceleration of online shopping has highlighted the need to offer alternative payment solutions for both merchants and consumers. In order to meet these expectations, Alma has mobilized its technical and financial expertise to support online retailers, but also to strengthen physical retail stores, still suffering from the economic consequences of the health crisis.

To this end, the company has just launched Pay Later, its buy now pay later solution that allows customers to purchase goods immediately and pay for them later: two weeks to a month after the act of purchase. Thanks to Pay Later, Alma offers merchants an easy-to-use solution to attract and retain consumers, helping them face the difficult economic context at the beginning of the year.

For merchants, this represents a new competitive advantage:

• Limiting the purchase postponement at the end of the month and increasing the average shopping basket thanks to Pay Later +15 days and +30 days;
• Increasing and retaining customer loyalty thanks to this new payment facility;
• Restoring cash flow thanks to the 100% payment guarantee at the time of purchase; merchants are getting paid by Alma upfront and in full.

For consumers, Pay Later gives them the opportunity to better control their budget, in particular:

• Pay 15 or 30 days later – the customer can schedule the payment at the time of the order to be charged 15 or 30 days after the order is placed;
• Try before you buy – Alma allows customers to place their orders and be charged only for what they want to keep. This acts as a way to avoid crowded stores during sale season, while allowing retailers to sell off their stock;
• Full transparency on expenses at the time of purchase: there is no hidden cost to using Pay Later.

Pay Later is already used by many French retailers: fashion brands such as La Fée Maraboutée, local concept stores like Jane de Boy, or the eyewear brand Le Petit Lunetier offer their customers this option, both online and in-store.

About Alma

Alma offers thousands of merchants installment payment and pay later solutions to help them increase their sales and boost customer satisfaction. The payment is guaranteed: the merchant receives the full price at the moment of purchase while the customer pays over time. To date, Alma manages hundreds of millions of euros of transactions per year. More information on getalma.eu (in French)

About Cathay Innovation

Cathay Innovation is a global venture capital fund created within Cathay Capital that invests in start-ups at the heart of the digital revolution in Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America and Africa. Its global platform brings together technology investors, investors, entrepreneurs and large companies on all continents to accelerate the growth of start-ups. We give them access to new markets, invaluable industry knowledge and allow them to meet potential partners from the outset. Cathay Innovation manages $1.5 billion in assets and has offices in San Francisco, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore. Cathay Innovation partners with visionary entrepreneurs and start-ups that are making a positive impact on the world through technology. For more information, visit www.cathayinnovation.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter @Cathayinnov

About Seaya Ventures

Based in Madrid, Seaya Ventures has been backing the best entrepreneurs and teams in Southern Europe since 2013. Seaya focuses on supporting founders in scaling their businesses, enabling them to become global leaders. For more information visit www.seayaventures.com.

Paris, 19 January 2021 –
Eurazeo, through Eurazeo Growth, announces a €55 million investment in PPRO, the most trusted infrastructure provider in the cross-border alternative payments space. Eurazeo Growth is co-leading this round of €153 million, alongside Sprints Capital and Wellington Management among other investors.

After Younited Credit, Wefox, Thought Machine and Tink, PPRO is Eurazeo Growth’s fifth investment in the Fintech sector and a testament to Europe’s innovation engine for financial services.
Headquartered in London, PPRO employs over 300 employees spread across 9 offices globally. The Company offers a payments infrastructure platform and value-added services that allow its customers and their underlying merchants to access over 150 alternative payment methods through one single API, while offloading the intricate complexities and massive costs of providing choice of payment method to local consumers.

Today, the Company counts 130 customers, fuelling cross-border e-Commerce growth for some of the world’s leading payment service providers such as Alipay, Mollie, PayPal, WorldPay, Citibank and Mastercard Payment Gateway Services. In addition, it serves 30 select enterprise customers with proprietary payment platforms including Adobe and Microsoft.
Capitalising on its market leading position, the Company doubled its year-on-year transaction volume in the fourth quarter of 2020, expanded its global team by 60% in the last twelve months, and developed new strategic partnerships with local payment methods in high-growth markets like Indonesia and Singapore. The funding will fuel PPRO’s continued global expansion and support the development of its innovative border-free payment technology and services.

Yann du Rusquec, Partner at Eurazeo Growth, states:
«We have been impressed by the level of maturity and ambitiousness of the organisation, Simon and his team have demonstrated throughout our interactions. Their local payment expertise is second to none, as recognised by some of the most influential players within payments. We are experiencing first hands the opportunities and challenges the ongoing innovation in payments provide to our marketplace and e-Commerce businesses across our portfolio. Sitting at the intersection of e-Commerce, cross-border trade and the growing adoption of alternative payment methods, PPRO is poised to continue its fast growth and build out its leadership position. Sharing PPRO’s partnership mindset, we are thrilled to be joining their journey alongside existing and new investors Citi Ventures, HPE, PayPal, Sprints and Wellington.»

Simon Black, CEO of PPRO, comments:
«I am so proud of what the PPRO team has accomplished. Beyond securing the support of prestigious investors like Eurazeo, Sprints, and Wellington and achieving a milestone valuation, we’ve enabled our customers to grow at record numbers during what has been a tough time for many. By giving businesses the ability to offer payment choice, we’ve helped give people around the world better access to goods and services that improve their lives. This investment will help us deliver the highest performance possible for companies leading the global payments industry.

About Eurazeo
• Eurazeo is a leading global investment company, with a diversified portfolio of €18.8 billion in assets under management, including €13.3 billion from third parties, invested in over 430 companies. With its considerable private equity, real estate and private debt expertise, Eurazeo accompanies companies of all sizes, supporting their development through the commitment of its nearly 300 professionals and by offering in-depth sector expertise, a gateway to global markets, and a responsible and stable foothold for transformational growth. Its solid institutional and family shareholder base, robust financial structure free of structural debt, and flexible investment horizon enable Eurazeo to support its companies over the long term.
• Eurazeo has offices in Paris, New York, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, London, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Berlin and Madrid.
• Eurazeo is listed on Euronext Paris.
• ISIN : FR0000121121 – Bloomberg : RF FP – Reuters : EURA.PA
EURAZEO EURAZEO

PIERRE BERNARDIN
HEAD OF INVESTOR RELATIONS
mail : pbernardin@eurazeo.com
Tel : +33 (0)1 44 15 16 76

VIRGINIE CHRISTNACHT
HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS
mail: vchristnacht@eurazeo.com
Tel: +33( 1 44 15 76 44

MAITLAND/amo
DAVID STURKEN
mail: dsturken@maitland .co .uk
Tel: +44 ( 7990 595 913

This is a joint press release by NIBC Holding N.V. (“NIBC”, the “Company”) and Flora Acquisition B.V. (the “Offeror“), an entity incorporated under Dutch law, owned by certain funds (the “Blackstone Funds“) managed and/or advised by Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities and Private Equity businesses and other managers affiliated with The Blackstone Group Inc. (each or together, as the context requires, “Blackstone“), pursuant to the provisions of Section 17 paragraph 4 of the Decree on Public Takeover Bids (Besluit Openbare Biedingen Wft) (the “Decree“) in connection with the recommended public offer (the “Offer” and together with the transactions contemplated in connection therewith, the “Transaction”) by the Offeror for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of NIBC (the “Shares”). This announcement does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities. Any offer will be made only by means of the offer memorandum dated 7 August 2020 (“Offer Memorandum“) approved by the Netherlands Authority for Financial Markets (Stichting Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the “AFM“). Terms not defined in this press release will have the meaning given thereto in the Offer Memorandum. This announcement is not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, in or into, directly or indirectly, Japan or in any other jurisdiction in which such release, publication or distribution would be unlawful.

Final results of the Offer for NIBC

The Hague / Amsterdam, the Netherlands – 11 January 2021

• During the Post Acceptance Period, 1.43% of the Shares have been tendered under the Offer.
• Including Shares already held by or irrevocably committed to the Offeror or its group companies after Settlement and any Shares to which the Offeror or its group companies is entitled, this represents a total of 97.68% of the Shares (excluding Treasury Shares).
• Settlement of the Shares tendered during the Post Acceptance Period will take place on 14 January 2021.
• Delisting to occur as soon as possible.
• The Offeror, together with its group companies, will initiate the statutory squeeze-out proceedings in order to obtain 100% of the Shares.

During the Post Acceptance Period which expired at 17:40 (CET) today, 2,096,489 Shares have been tendered under the Offer, representing approximately 1.43% of the aggregate issued and outstanding share capital of NIBC. Including the 140,987,055 Shares already held by or irrevocably committed to the Offeror or its group companies following Settlement and any Shares to which the Offeror or its group companies is entitled, this amounts to a total of 143,083,544 Shares, representing approximately 97.68% of the aggregate issued and outstanding share capital of NIBC (excluding Treasury Shares).

Settlement Post Acceptance Period

With reference to the Offer Memorandum, holders of Shares who accepted the Offer during the Post Acceptance Period shall receive the Offer Price for each Share validly tendered (or defectively tendered provided that such defect has been waived by the Offeror) and delivered (geleverd) for acceptance pursuant to the Offer, under the terms and conditions of the Offer Memorandum and subject to its restrictions.

Settlement of the Shares tendered during the Post Acceptance Period and payment of the Offer Price will take place on 14 January 2021. Following settlement of the Shares tendered during the Post Acceptance Period, the Offeror or its group companies will hold 143,083,544 Shares, representing approximately 97.68% of the aggregate issued and outstanding share capital of NIBC (excluding Treasury Shares).

Delisting

The Offeror and NIBC intend to procure the delisting of the Shares on Euronext Amsterdam as soon as possible under the applicable rules.

Squeeze-Out Procedure

Since the Offeror or its group companies own more than 95% of the Shares, the Offeror together with its group companies shall, at their discretion, commence (i) a statutory buy-out procedure (uitkoopprocedure) in accordance with article 2:92a of the Dutch Civil Code or (ii) the takeover buy-out procedure in accordance with article 2:359c of the Dutch Civil Code acquire the remaining Shares that are not yet held by the Offeror or its group companies.

The Settlement Agent
ING Bank N.V.
Bijlmerdreef 106
1102 CT Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Investor and press enquiries NIBC

Martin Groot Wesseldijk
T: +31 6 5160 8425
E: martin.groot.wesseldijk@nibc.com

Eveline van Wesemael
T: +31 70 342 5412
E: eveline.van.wesemael@nibc.com

Press enquiries Blackstone

Ramesh Chhabra
T: +44 20 7451 4053
E: Ramesh.Chhabra@blackstone.com

Rebecca Flower
T: +44 7918 360372
E: rebecca.flower@blackstone.com

Public relations Blackstone

David Brilleslijper
Comprehensive Strategies
T: +31 (0)6 109 425 14
E: David@comprehensivestrategies.nl

Information Agent Blackstone

Ivana Cvjetkovic
Georgeson
M: +31 (0)6 11 422 616
E: Ivana.Cvjetkovic@georgeson.com

About NIBC

NIBC is best suited to help entrepreneurs at their decisive moments. Now and in the future. As a bank for entrepreneurs, we are committed to cultivating our ‘THINK YES’ mentality by being flexible and agile and by matching our clients’ can-do attitude. We support our corporate clients in building their businesses. For our retail clients in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium we offer mortgages, online savings and brokerage products that are accessible, easy to understand and fairly priced. Operating in the Netherlands (The Hague and Amsterdam), Germany and UK, our corporate clients business (mainly mid-market) offers advice and debt, mezzanine and equity financing solutions to entrepreneurs across select sectors and sub-sectors in which we have strong expertise and market positions. The mid-market is dynamic by nature and requires a bank that can respond quickly and in a highly flexible way. Our aim is to meet the market’s requirements at decisive moments such as mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs, investments and strategic financings and re-financings.

For more information, please refer to the NIBC website www.nibc.com.

About Blackstone

Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $584 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2020 include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis.

Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.

Disclaimer

Restrictions

The distribution of this press release may, in some countries, be restricted by law or regulation. Accordingly, persons who come into possession of this document should inform themselves of and observe these restrictions. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, NIBC, the Offeror and Blackstone disclaim any responsibility or liability for the violation of any such restrictions by any person. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of that jurisdiction. Neither NIBC, nor the Offeror nor Blackstone, nor any of their advisers, assumes any responsibility for any violation of any of these restrictions. Any NIBC shareholder who is in any doubt as to his or her position should consult an appropriate professional adviser without delay. This announcement is not to be published or distributed in or to Japan or any other jurisdiction in which such publication or distribution would be unlawful.

The information in the press release is not intended to be complete. This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer or an invitation to acquire or dispose of any securities or investment advice or an inducement to enter into investment activity. This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or acquire the securities of NIBC in any jurisdiction.

Forward looking statements

Certain statements in this press release may be considered “forward-looking statements”, such as statements relating to the impact of this Transaction on NIBC, the Offeror and Blackstone and the targeted timeline for the Transaction. Forward-looking statements include those preceded by, followed by or that include the words “anticipated,” “expected” or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. Although NIBC, the Offeror and Blackstone believe that the assumptions upon which their respective financial information and their respective forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, they can give no assurance that these forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience or from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, receipt of regulatory approvals without unexpected delays or conditions, the Offeror’s ability to successfully operate NIBC without disruption to its other business activities, the Offeror’s ability to achieve the anticipated results from the acquisition of NIBC, the effects of competition, economic conditions in the global markets in which NIBC operate, and other factors that can be found in NIBC’s, the Offeror’s and/or Blackstone’s press releases and public filings.

Neither NIBC, nor the Offeror nor Blackstone, nor any of their advisers, accepts any responsibility for any financial information contained in this press release relating to the business, results of operations or financial condition of the other or their respective groups. Each of NIBC, the Offeror and Blackstone expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

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