Payday lender Wonga set to offload European unit BillPay for £60m this week
Payday lender Wonga is set to announce the sale of a large chunk of its European operations later this week.
The group will offload BillPay, one of its most valuable units, to Swedish e-commerce firm Klarna for around £60m, Sky News first reported.
Klarna operates in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland, while Wonga continues to trade in countries including Canada, South Africa, Poland and Spain.
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Talks between the British lender and Klarna have been taking place for several months, sources told Sky, and a deal could be announced early this week.
The BillPay deal will be Wonga’s most significant international disposal.
Read more: Losses at Wonga double as firm grapples with turnaround
Last month, the group appointed former Worldpay finance chief Joanna Baker as its new chief financial officer, in the hopes she’ll put it back in the black.
Wonga, which offers loans with 1,509 per cent APR, has been hammered over the last couple of years by company restructuring costs, fee caps, and harsher lending criteria.
It offers a short-term loan and a longer, three-month flexible payment loan