AgriNurture to acquire 51% of Pay8

AgriNurture Inc. (ANI) this week inked an agreement to acquire a majority stake in fintech Pay8 Inc., in line with plans to complete its envisioned "agricultural ecosystem."

In a regulatory filing, ANI said it signed a memorandum of agreement to acquire up to 51% of Pay8 Inc.'s authorized capital stock from HatchAsia after effecting an increase in its capitalization.

Based on the current valuation, the 51% is valued at P377.91 million, subject to ANI's due diligence before definitive agreements are executed.

"The intended acquisition is part of completing the agricultural ecosystem being envisioned by ANI," the disclosure read.

"The financial platform that will be introduced is anticipated to reach the farmers mostly in the unserved rural areas of the country," it added.

Hatchasia is partially owned by the DFNN Group, which is involved in high-volume secure financial transactions.

Meanwhile, Pay8 is involved in providing payment centers to utilities such as provincial and rural electric cooperatives.

It also has an existing contract with PhilPost to provide payment centers in far-flung and unconnected areas, providing subscribers neighborhood payment centers.

ANI, for its part, counts as an affiliate the BRB Digibank, which will provide online micro-financing of farm inputs to contract farmers via agri vouchers.

The company will then put all these financial services under one umbrella - Agri Token Inc., a closed lopped ecosystem it pioneered recently.

"The deal completes Tiu's digital infra and is envisioned to have tremendous synergies which will spur rural development by enabling farmers, producers, distributors and end-users to make cashless payments within its closed-looped ecosystem," the company said, referring to its president and chief executive officer Antonio Tiu.

"The agricultural sector has been registering declines and slow growth in the past decade due to lack of much needed financial support to farmers," it added. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA News