Cirtek expands into fintech via MultiPay

Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. expects a big boost in revenues with its recent acquisition of a substantial stake in MultiPay, a leading provider of e-commerce system integrations.

The company acquired a 49 percent stake in MultiPay, paving the way for its entry into the lucrative e-commerce and financial technology space in the country and even in the region.

“MultiPay signals our entry into the fast-growing ecommerce and fintech space,” Cirtek vice chairman and president Roberto Juanchito Dispo said in a briefing yesterday.

Cirtek’s first major software investment will not only be immediately earnings accretive, but will also strengthen the listed firm’s software development capabilities and open opportunities in the fast-growing electronic commerce space.

For this year alone, the company expects MultiPay to generate P300-to P500-million in revenues, said Cirtek chief finance officer Anthony Buyawe.

Dispo said Cirtek and MultiPay want to take advantage of the vast growth potential of the e-commerce industry in the country.

Estimates by Statista, a leading web-based statistics company, placed e-commerce transaction value in the Philippines, including bills payments and online money transfers, at $4.1 billion in 2016. The figure is projected to grow to $10.6 billion in 2020 as more Filipinos access the internet.

The growth in Philippine transaction value is faster at 160 percent compared to the projected 114 percent for global transaction value, Dispo said.

“The consolidation of Cirtek’s core strength in hardware and connectivity with MultiPay’s expertise in software and technology systems makes us confident we will be able to provide effective and innovative e-commerce solutions to the emerging markets in the region,” he added.

MultiPay is the exclusive technology partner of the three leading payment channels in the Philippines. It also provides back-end and integration support to more than 30,000 payment channels worldwide.