Romanian competition body allows OLX to take over local credit broker

Romania's Competition Council approved the transaction through which the marketplace operator OLX Group, owned by South-African giant Naspers, will take over Romanian loan broker Kiwi Finance from Swedish investment fund Oresa Ventures.

OLX BV group owns in Romania the marketplace OLX, focusing on individuals so far, the leading car ad marketplace Autovit.ro, and the premium real estate ad platform Storia.ro.

Kiwi Finance is the largest credit broker in Romania.

The transaction was scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, Profit.ro reported.

OLX Group becomes the sole shareholder of the company, and the credit broker's management will remain in office. Anca Bidian will maintain her CEO position at Kiwi Finance.

The credit brokerage company Kiwi Finance was founded in 2003. It ended 2019 with a turnover of RON 21 million (EUR 4.5 mln), 27% higher than in the previous year, and a volume of intermediated loans amounting to RON 950 mln (EUR 195 mln), 30% higher than in 2018.

OLX Group is the classifieds division of Naspers, with 17 global and local brands such as OLX, Storia, Autovit.ro, Otomoto, Dubizzle, Avito, Shedd, or Tradus. In total, OLX Group platforms generate over 54 million new ads a month, over 1.9 billion visits.

(Photo source: Pixabay.com)