UPDATE: QIWI Announces Acquisition of Contact and Rapida

QIWI plc QIWI QIWI ("QIWI" or the "Company") today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Otkritie Financial Group ("Otkritie") to acquire 100% ownership of the Contact money transfer system and the Rapida payment processing system. Under the terms of the agreement, QIWI will issue 5,593,041 class B shares to Otkritie in exchange for all of the outstanding interests in Contact and Rapida. In addition, in connection with the acquisition, QIWI and Otkritie intend to enter into a cooperation agreement for the introduction of new products and services in the financial services market vertical. "We are very pleased to announce the acquisition of Contact and Rapida. Money remittance is one of the key market verticals for QIWI, and, with this transaction, we believe that there will be an opportunity to grow our market share and leverage the ecosystem that we have built to date," said Sergey Solonin, chief executive officer of QIWI. "With this acquisition, not only are we becoming a significant player in the money remittance market, but we are also becoming a strategic partner of one of the largest Russian financial institutions, Otkritie. We view this partnership as mutually beneficial and expect it to contribute to strengthening our position in the financial services market vertical through the introduction of new products and services," Mr. Solonin continued. "We attach great importance to our strategic partnership with QIWI," noted Ruben Aganbegyan, Chairman of Otkritie Holding's Management Board. "As a result, QIWI will emerge establishing itself as a leader in all money transfer segments. Capitalizing on the competencies and experience of Otkritie and QIWI, our prospective strategic partnership will develop and implement new hi-tech solutions for electronic finance to even better meet our clients' needs." The Company expects that the acquisition of Contact and Rapida will contribute between approximately 15% and 20% in annualized terms to both QIWI's adjusted net revenue and adjusted net profit in 2015 following closing, which is expected to occur in two instalments by mid-September 2015, and is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.