Sale of South African bank for R1.1 billion delayed
Lesaka Technologies and Bank Zero have agreed to extend the deadline to acquire the bank in a deal worth around R1.1 billion.
Bank Zero was founded by former FNB executives Michael Jordaan and Yatin Narsai in 2018 and officially launched to the public in 2021. Jordaan is the chairman of Bank Zero, while Narsai serves as the CEO.
As its name suggests, Bank Zero prioritises low bank fees. It is a digital bank like GoTyme Bank, Discovery Bank and OM Bank, and does not have any branches.
The bank is also highly focused on security, with no card fraud since its launch.
Lesaka is a US-incorporated firm that provides financial technology products and services to underserved consumers and small businesses.
The business also provides low-cost financial services to underserved and unbanked customers, including microloans, insurance, transaction switching, and payment processing.
In July 2025, the groups announced a deal in which Lesaka would acquire Bank Zero for around R1.1 billion.
The transaction is structured with up to R91 million in cash, with the remainder funded via a host of newly issued Lesaka shares.
Bank Zero’s shareholders will own about 12% of Lesaka’s fully diluted shares after the deal is completed. Jordaan will join Lesaka’s board, and Narsai will remain CEO of Bank Zero.
The Competition Tribunal gave the green light to the deal in late 2025, allowing Lesaka to directly control Zero Research, the parent company of Bank Zero.
However, certain regulatory approvals are still outstanding.
This created an issue for the group, as the deal will lapse if certain conditions are not met or waived by August 6 2026.
The parties thus agreed to extend the deadline or long-stop date from August 6 2026, to January 31 2027, while the remaining outstanding regulatory consents are being procured.
A long-stop date is the date by which all outstanding conditions of the acquisition deal must be satisfied or waived.
Speaking at the group’s Q3 FY26 results presentation, Lesaka Technologies Executive Chairman Ali Mazanderani said that the acquisition of Bank Zero had multiple benefits for the group.
Specifically, in the merchant space, Bank Zero has historically focused on serving SMEs as a digital provider.
Mazanderani said that Lesaka will be able to offer a banking product via its existing sales teams and relationships.
He said that this should improve Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), especially since the group would also benefit from float and other sources.
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