A new joint venture between Swiss-owned Ringier Africa and South African-based Silvertree Internet Holdings is acquiring Nigerian e-commerce platform DealDey for an undisclosed sum.
News of the acquisition comes three months after Silvertree Capital, the investment arm of the Cape Town-based Silvertree Internet Holdings, said it plans to invest US$10m (about R150m) in consumer-focused Internet start-ups in 2016.
The newly created joint venture, which will trade under the name Ringier Africa Deals Group, describes DealDey as one of Nigeria’s biggest online shopping platforms.
“The acquisition represents an expansion of Ringier Africa’s portfolio beyond publishing and digital marketing in Nigeria and is Silvertree’s first e-commerce investment in the country,” the acquiring parties said in a statement.
“It sees the two companies invest significantly in Nigeria’s fast-growing, multibillion-dollar e-commerce sector.”
DealDey was launched in 2011 by Simdul Shagaya, together with Investment AB Kinnevik. It has more than a million users, 15 000 active merchants and 20 000 listed businesses. It also owns the couponing platform Promohub and discovery platform Lyf, which both form part of the acquisition.
Kehinde Oriola will continue as the CEO of DealDey following the acquisition, while current co-CEO Etop Ikpe will leave.
Ringier Africa Deals Group, the purchasing holding company, has been created by a “carve-out” of Kenyan online deals business Rupu from Ringier Kenya and Ghanaian online deals platform Tisu from Ringier Ghana.
For Silvertree, the deal means a firm expansion outside South Africa, where it has a number of investments. It acquired PriceCheck from Naspers in November 2015. Its other investments include Click n Compare, Faithful to Nature, Cyber Cellar and HealthCart.
Ringier Africa’s parent company Ringier AG runs DeinDeal and Geschenkidee, large online deals and gifting platforms in Switzerland respectively. — © 2016 NewsCentral Media
