MA MasterCard Incorporated

By Nicolas Parasie 

DUBAI -- Mastercard Inc. on Tuesday said it would invest $300 million in a Dubai digital-payments firm, the latest in a global wave of deals in the industry.

Taking up to a 9.99% stake in Network International, Mastercard's investment gives the Middle East company a boost as it prepares for a London Stock Exchange debut, valuing it at around $3 billion.

The move is a vote of confidence on the future of digital payments in the Middle East and Africa, where several cities are among the world's most underpenetrated digital-payment markets.

Mastercard is betting emerging markets will continue its switch to digital payments instead of using cash and checks. Consumers are often skipping credit cards and banks altogether, increasingly using mobile-phone apps to send and receive money. Mastercard and Network International also plan to promote the use of electronic payments in the Middle East and Africa.

A flurry of deals in the payment-firm sector has been prompted by a shift in the global industry to mobile and online payment forms. Fidelity National Information Services is paying roughly $35 billion for Worldpay Inc., while Fiserv Inc. bought First Data Corp. a few months earlier in a $22 billion deal.

Firms like Network International help financial-service providers, vendors and credit card companies including Visa and Mastercard process digital payments.

Network International's chairman Ron Kalifa said investors in the company would benefit "from a rapid structural shift from cash to digital payments" in the region.

The partnership between the two companies involves jointly developing projects and making cross-referral arrangements with financial-services providers to boost credit card usage in the region.

Network International started as a subsidiary of a predecessor of Dubai's largest bank, Emirates NBD, and counts private-equity firms General Atlantic and Warburg Pincus among its main shareholders. Mastercard will buy Network shares at the same terms as other institutional investors participating in the initial public offering.

Write to Nicolas Parasie at nicolas.parasie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 26, 2019 09:13 ET (13:13 GMT)

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