EMEA Daily: PayU-BillDesk Deal Collapses at Last Minute; Italian Court Cancels $169M Fine Against Apple, Amazon

Today in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Dutch technology firm Prosus announced that it has cancelled a planned takeover that would have seen its FinTech arm PayU merge with the Indian payment firm BillDesk. In Italy, a court has overruled a $169 million (€173 million) fine that the country’s antitrust authority levied against Apple and Amazon.

PayU-BillDesk Deal Collapses at Last Minute

The Dutch technology giant Prosus announced today that it has canceled its $4.7 billion acquisition of Indian digital payments processor BillDesk, claiming that the conditions of the deal had not been met.

In a statement on its website, Prosus said that “certain conditions precedent were not fulfilled by the 30 September 2022 long stop date, and the agreement has terminated automatically in accordance with its terms.”

Irish Regulator Submits Draft Decision in Facebook Data Breach

Taking the next step in its inquiry into a data breach of Meta’s Facebook platform, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has submitted a draft decision to other concerned supervisory authorities across the European Union (EU).

As outlined in Article 60 of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), those authorities now have one month to review the draft decision and “raise any ‘relevant and reasoned objections’ that they may have,” the DPC said in a statement today.

The DPC’s inquiry began in April 2021 following media reports that the personal data of 533 million Facebook users worldwide had been made available on the internet.

As PYMNTS reported at the time of the breach, the personal data that was leaked included phone numbers, emails, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birth dates and bios, and the users who were affected included 32 million in the United States, 11 million in the United Kingdom and 6 million in India.

Read more: Facebook Hack Revealed; Data on 533 Million Users Breached

Italian Court Cancels $169M Fine Against Apple, Amazon

An Italian court has overruled a $169 million (€173 million) fine that the country’s antitrust authority levied against Apple and Amazon.

The initial fine was for alleged anti-competitive cooperation related to the sales of Apple and Beats products.

An Amazon spokesperson told PYMNTS today: “We welcome the Court’s decision. Our business model across Europe relies on the success of small and medium-sized businesses, and we will continue to work hard to provide a great selection from Apple, and the value and convenience that our customers love.”

Société Généralee Set to Buy PayXpert

The French multinational financial services company Société Généralee announced in a press release on Friday (Sep. 30) that it is to acquire a majority stake in PayXpert.

The final acquisition remains subject to the approval of the relevant authorities. Neither party has revealed the value of the deal.

Based in London, PayXpert offers a range of payment solutions for merchants, acquirers and other FinTechs. Together, Societe Generale and PayXpert intend to develop services for physical and eCommerce retailers encompassing payments and complementary services such as financing and insurance solutions.

Lemonade Launches AI-Powered Contents Insurance in UK

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered insurance company Lemonade has launched in the United Kingdom thanks to a partnership with U.K. insurer Aviva.

With the news announced today, Lemonade now operates in five countries, after previous launches in the United States, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

With Lemonade’s flagship renters’ insurance, customers can get a quote and purchase contents insurance on any device. Residents in the U.K. can protect their belongings with Lemonade’s contents insurance, and add-on insurance is available to provide extra coverage for theft and loss, accidental damage to mobile devices and legal protection.

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