LINE MAN Wongnai and LINE Company (Thailand) Limited acquire the shares of Rabbit LINE Pay Company Limited (“RLP”) from previous shareholders, RabbitPay System Company Limited and Advanced mPAY Company Limited.
The transaction allows LINE MAN Wongnai to become the majority shareholder of RLP. Yod Chinsupakul, LINE MAN Wongnai CEO, and In Young Chung, LINE MAN Wongnai CFO, will become the new CEO and CFO of RLP, respectively.
The purpose of this acquisition is to bring RLP payment services closer to the LINE ecosystem, including LINE MAN, LINE SHOPPING, LINE App, and Wongnai’s merchant network. The new ownership structure will accelerate the innovation in RLP and create a more seamless experience within LINE MAN Wongnai’s services and also to the wider LINE ecosystem.
RLP users will not have any impact from this change of ownership structure. RLP users can keep using RLP payment services in existing channels, including BTS Skytrain ticketing system and AIS’s bill payment services.
Yod Chinsupakul, Chief Executive Officer of LINE MAN Wongnai, stated, “RLP has a long presence among Thai e-payment users, covering a wide range of online and offline payment channels. As user’s behaviors toward e-payment and overall fintech are transforming at a fast pace, it’s an exciting time to reframe the role of RLP under the new shareholders. We want to use our strength of over 10M LINE MAN and Wongnai users, over 500,000 merchants, and over 100,000 riders to create a coherent transaction experience for all stakeholders. With the addition of RLP, we believe LINE MAN Wongnai is uniquely positioned to help digitalize the Thai economy.”
In Young Chung, Chief Financial Officer of LINE MAN Wongnai, said, “With the co-acquisition of RLP, LINE Thailand and LINE MAN Wongnai is ready to connect the largest user and merchant bases in the economy via payment. The deal further deepens the strategic tie between LINE Group, one of the largest tech companies in Asia, and LINE MAN Wongnai, one of few tech unicorns out of Thailand. After the POS M&A lately and the RLP acquisition today, LINE MAN Wongnai team is confident to build the most inspiring tech company in Thailand in coming years.”
Dr. Phichet Rerkpreecha, Chief Executive Officer of LINE Thailand, said, “The key strength of RLP is the integration between online-to-offline (O2O). The joint acquisition of RLP by LINE Thailand and LINE MAN Wongnai is our strategy to connect LINE app with LINE MAN, on-demand service, and LINE SHOPPING, chat commerce service, for every type of customer. We can also bring the strength of LINE Chat, LINE POINTS, LINE STICKERS to create more fun and joyful experiences for our users. Yod and his team already prove their capacity of turning LINE MAN Wongnai into a Thai tech unicorn and we believe they can bring the same capacity to RLP again.”
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