Investment firm Permira buys into Klarna’s banking ambitions
Klarna is a charmer
Investment firm Permira will acquire a 10% equity stake in Swedish payments and banking firm Klarna.
As part of the deal, Permira will buy shares from existing shareholders General Atlantic, DST Global and Niklas Adalberth, upon receipt of approval from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen).
Once the transfer is complete, General Atlantic and DST Global will cease to be shareholders in the company, while Niklas Adalberth will retain an equity stake.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Klarna, says Permira brings a “global footprint and strong expertise in ecommerce and fintech”.
As he says in almost every announcement, Siemiatkowski adds that Klarna is “now one of Europe’s largest banks with 60 million customers, 70,000 merchants and working seamlessly across borders”.
This latest deal follows on from last month, when Visa announced it was investing in Klarna, as “part of a global strategy to open up the Visa ecosystem and support a broad range of new partners”.
Also in June, Klarna got its full banking licence from Finansinspektionen. With the licence, Klarna says it can broaden its product portfolio for customers and merchants.
As part of its expansion plans, Klarna has also been acquisitive itself – with the purchase of fellow payments company BillPay, and the crumbling German start-up Cookies.
Permira was founded in 1985, and says it advises funds and accounts with a total committed capital of approximately €32 billion. It employs over 200 people in 14 offices across North America, Europe and Asia and has had an office in Stockholm since 2003.
Klarna was founded in 2005 in Stockholm. It is valued at more than $2 billion, and operates in 18 markets, and has more than 1,500 employees.
