Business

South African payments company being bought for R1 billion

Luke Fraser

 ·18 Feb 2026

JSE-listed Araxi has entered into agreements in which its subsidiary, African Resonance, will acquire an 80% stake in Pay At (Pay@) Holdings and its affiliate International Payment Holdings Limited (IHPL).

Araxi is the owner of African Resonance, Dashpay, and Synthesis and was formerly known as Capital Appreciation Limited until last year. Its focus lies in payment services.

Pay@ was founded in 2007 and offers scalable payment services for B2B and B2C consumers.

Araxi said that Pay@ has the largest network of independent payment processing channels in South Africa, with over 9,000 retailer locations, 150,000 mobile POS payment end-points and 15 digital payment platforms.

Pay@ services banks, telcos, voucher providers and fintechs. It operates in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Lesotho.

Araxi now plans to acquire the majority stake in Pay@ for R1 billion, funded by R200 million in cash and R800 million in senior debt. R975 million will go to Pay@ and R25 million to IHPL.

Araxi said that the acquisition of the Pay@ Group will significantly strengthen its payment capabilities, enabling the group to deliver an expanded, more competitive offering to customers.

It noted that 40% of Pay@ shares are currently owned by a US private equity firm, and that the acquisition ensures Pay@ will be fully South African-owned.

It noted that the profits will be reinvested locally, exposure to currency volatility will be reduced, and the shareholder base will be simplified.

The rationale for the deal

Araxi said that it focuses on specific differentiating attributes when evaluating potential acquisitions, which include business models or technologies already showing user acceptance on the adoption curve.

The company also looks for companies whose customers are enterprise or institutional clients rather than individual consumers, and for businesses that are cash-generative and asset-lite.

“In addition, the Araxi Group seeks innovative technologies with significant growth potential that can easily cross regional and continental borders,” it said.

“The extent to which the prospective acquisition presents meaningful and near-term synergies, with its existing operating units, is also a consideration in Araxi’s decision.”

It added that Pay@ has already achieved strong profitability, whilst maintaining the highest standards of client service, which is rare for fast-growing payments companies.

It noted that Pay@’s service offering is highly complementary to Araxi’s payment division, with almost no overlap.

Pay@ is an enterprise-facing offering and makes its platform offering available to retailers, banks, telcos, digital services providers, enterprises and SMEs, which is similar to Araxi.

The group added that Pay@ has tested and assembled a management team that is committed to remaining with the company post-acquisition.

The management team also plans to work with Araxi to expand the platform further, both geographically and through new, diversified, and enhanced services.

The deal will require shareholder approval as a category 1 transaction.

Pay@ achieved revenue growth of 26.5% for the 12 months ended February 2025 to R271 million, with net profit rising by 34.2% to R91.3 million.