JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA–(Marketwired – June 10, 2014) – Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc. (“Net1” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ:UEPS)(JSE:NT1) today announced that it has purchased approximately 2.4 million shares of the Company’ common stock from its BEE partners under its December 2013 Relationship Agreements, as amended (“Relationship Agreements”). These agreements gave the Company the right to require its BEE partners to early settle their loan obligations to the Net1 subsidiary which advanced the loans for the purchase of their Net1 shares, in the event that Net1’s share price ever traded above ZAR120.00 on the JSE Limited (or the South African Rand equivalent on the Nasdaq). Such settlement could occur either through the sale of Net1 shares or the use of other financial resources.
The Company’s share price exceeded this level on June 5, 2014 and the Company gave notice for the early repayment of the loans. The BEE partners elected to effect this repayment through the sale of a portion of their Net1 shares and the Company elected to purchase the shares itself to reduce the dilution effect of the original BEE issue.
Accordingly, the Company has repurchased approximately 2.4 million shares from its BEE Partners at the contractually determined 30 day volume weighted average price of ZAR109.98 (or $10.24 at the appropriate exchange rate) per share. The settlement amount has been applied to repay, in full, the BEE loans and related interest obligations under the Relationship Agreements.
Net1’s outstanding share count has accordingly reduced by 4.8% from 50,183,342 to 47,755,220 shares. Net1’s BEE partners may not sell their remaining 1,971,878 shares of Company common stock for a period of five years, except as permitted under the Relationship Agreements.
About Net1 (www.net1.com)
Net1 is a leading provider of alternative payment systems that leverage its Universal Electronic Payment System, or UEPS, to facilitate biometrically secure, real-time electronic transaction processing to unbanked and under-banked populations of developing economies around the world in an online or offline environment. Net1’s UEPS/EMV solution is also completely interoperable with global EMV standards that seamlessly permit access to all the UEPS functionality in a traditional EMV environment. In addition to payments, UEPS can be used for banking, healthcare management, payroll, remittances, voting and identification.
Net1 operates market-leading payment processors in South Africa, Republic of Korea, and Ghana. In addition, Net1’s proprietary Mobile Virtual Card technology offers secure mobile payments and banking services in developed and emerging countries while its MediKredit and XeoHealth subsidiaries provide its proprietary 5010 and ICD-10 compliant real-time claims adjudication system.
Net1 has a primary listing on the Nasdaq and a secondary listing on the JSE Limited.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A discussion of various factors that cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements are included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to revise any of these statements to reflect future events.
]]Investor Relations Contact:
Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc.
Dhruv Chopra
Head of Investor Relations
+1-917-767-6722
dchopra@net1.com
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