The buy now, pay later sector has capped off a horror day, with troubled group Zip scrapping its merger with Sezzle, while the Commonwealth Bank saw the valuation of its investment in Swedish group Klarna tumble by $2 billion.
In a statement on Tuesday, Zip said will pay $US11 million to walk away from the deal to buy out Sezzle in a transaction that was once valued at $491 million. The dismantling of the merger came after a change in economic conditions, increasing bad debts and a poor outlook for the sectorThe valuations of Afterpay and Zip have tumbled, and some observers say the outlook remains bleak for the buy now, pay later sector.
Overnight, one of the world’s biggest buy now, pay later groups, Klarna, saw its valuation slashed by 85 per cent to less than $US7 billion in a capital raising. The raising effectively reducedthat was once worth more than $2.6 billion to less than $500 million. Klarna had once been valued at $US46 billion.
Also on Tuesday, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones reaffirmed in a speech to a Sydney conference that he would seek to classify buy now, pay later transactions under the credit code. Jones said shortly after the Albanese government was elected that he would look to introduce formal regulation for the products.
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