(The story has been amended for accuracy.)
KUALA LUMPUR (June 17): Trading interest in shares in Green Packet Bhd swelled this morning after it yesterday announced the acquisition of a Singapore-based e-KYC (electronic Know Your Customer) specialist firm, Xendity Pte Ltd, for US$10 million (RM42.79 million).
The counter had risen as much as 8.09 sen earlier this morning, before it pared some of its gains and was up two sen or 2.94% to 70 sen at 10.55am. This gave it a market capitalisation of RM699.61 million.
Some 116.6 million shares were traded. At that point of time, that was already nearly 10 times its 200-day average volume of 14.89 million, also making it the sixth most active counter on Bursa Malaysia today.
The stock soared to RM1.44 in May following its kipleLive launch, but had slipped some 51% since.
In a statement yesterday, Green Packet said the acquisition will enable it to strengthen its digital identity verification services, a fast-growing sector as more organisations move towards their digital transformation.
It said this will reinforce its position as the preferred partner for digital financial solutions for various industries in Malaysia, including telecommunications and banking.
"The acquisition of Xendity forms a key part of our market strategy with a solid e-KYC solution," said its group managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Puan Chan Cheong in a statement.
Green Packet will be paying US$10 million for a 100% stake in Xendity, with a combination of cash and shares and with performance-based tranches. It will initially pay US$1.5 million cash plus the issuance of new shares worth US$4 million.
Then, over the next two years, Green Packet will pay up to US$4.5 million via new shares and these payments will be based on Xendity meeting stipulated key performance targets.
In 2018, credit reporting agency CTOS, together with Xendity as its technology partner and leading banks, participated in Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) e-KYC Financial Technology Regulatory Sandbox.
Having met the central bank’s Sandbox’s e-KYC eligibility criteria, CTOS and the banks have made preparations to meet the upcoming BNM e-KYC policy. The banks have not deployed this solution to a live service and are currently awaiting the final outcome of the regulations to be issued by BNM.