Georgian's TBC Bank Group PLC has acquired the 49% stake in Payme, a leading digital payments provider in Uzbekistan, that it did not own, becoming its sole shareholder. The acquisition was completed on May 23 and valued Payme at USD113.6 million.

Payme is a mobile app that allows users to make payments, send money and buy goods and services. It has over 3.1 million monthly active users and processed over USD17.5 million in transactions in 2022.

The acquisition is part of TBC PLC's initial agreement to buy 51% of Payme in 2019. The company has shown considerable growth since then, with its revenue and pre-tax profit for 2022 standing at USD17.5 million and USD11.4 million respectively, while its active customer base has grown to 3.1 million. The cost for the remaining stake is USD55.7 million, which suggests a total valuation of USD113.6 million for Payme, implying a 2023 P/E multiple of 6.5x.    

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