Net1 Announces Acquisition of a Strategic Stake in Blue Label Telecoms

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA--(Marketwired - October 05, 2016) - Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. ("Net1" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: UEPS) (JSE: NT1) today announced that it has entered into a share subscription agreement with Blue Label Telecoms Limited ("Blue Label") (JSE: BLU) to subscribe for approximately 117.9 million shares in Blue Label, at a subscription price of ZAR16.96 per share, representing a 10% discount to ZAR18.84, being the 30-day volume weighted average price of a Blue Label share traded on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange ("JSE") to September 29, 2016. The aggregate subscription consideration payable by Net1 is ZAR2.0 billion ($144.0 million). Following implementation of the subscription, Net1 will own approximately 15% of the issued ordinary shares in Blue Label. Net1 expects to settle the subscription consideration through a combination of cash resources, debt instruments and an equity issuance of five million shares of common stock, at an issue price of $9.00 per share. Following implementation of the subscription, which is subject to the finalization of the financing package and the approval of Blue Label shareholders, Net1 will be entitled to nominate a director to Blue Label's board.

Blue Label, which operates in South Africa, Mexico and India, is listed in the Telcoms - Mobile Telcoms sector of the Main Board of the JSE, and is a market leading virtual and physical distributor of secure electronic tokens of value as well as a provider of transactional and value added services. Blue Label also announced today that it intends to acquire a 45% interest in Cell C, one of South Africa's three major licensed mobile network operators. For the fiscal year ended May 31, 2016, Blue Label reported revenue of ZAR26.2 billion ($1.9 billion), EBITDA of ZAR1.24 billion ($90.0 million) and earnings per share of ZAR1.04 ($0.07).

"This investment cements the start of a multi-layered strategic alliance between our two groups that will greatly enhance shareholder value on both sides through cooperation between our combined local and international operations," said Serge Belamant, Chairman and CEO of Net1. "Blue Label has announced that it intends to acquire 45% of Cell C, the third largest telecom operator in South Africa and this new alliance will assist Net1, Blue Label and Cell C to accelerate the growth of their combined customer bases, and facilitate cross selling opportunities between themselves. Our aim is to provide customers a truly bespoke, affordable and comprehensive package that will go much further than basic telephony. The combination of the Net1 and Blue Label infrastructures is expected to envelop all areas of South Africa through our combined physical and mobile branches, associations with merchant stores and virtual distribution services via USSD, voice, internet and social media linked with traditional payment systems including EFTs, debit and credit cards and our Virtual Card solution. We believe that our coalition will be a global first that provides customers with an offering that includes banking, transacting, debit and credit cards, micro-finance, insurance, distribution of both airtime and electricity, web services, voice and data as well as access to low cost handsets offering the most advanced functionality. In addition, the new alliance ensures that all required support services are provided in-house using our own combined technologies, software and hardware products. As a result, our technology platform can address and service the entire LSM1 to 8 categories in South Africa in a broad and meaningful way.