“Stone buys Linx” is the headline that decrees the end of a “soap opera” that has been going on since August 2020. It was a plot with three months of twists, controversies and a lot of money involved.
Linx , in case you don't know, is a Brazilian retail software company that owns the Linx Commerce platform. It has been operating since 1985, founded by current CEO Alberto Menache, along with Nércio Fernandes and Alon Dayan. It is headquartered in São Paulo and has branches in several cities around the world; in other words, it's a multinational company.
Stone, in turn, is a Brazilian fintech that started its operations in 2012. Since then the founders, André Street and Eduardo Pontes, have been betting on offering payment methods via multi-brand acquiring services.
The soap opera began when TOTVS entered into negotiations for the purchase of Linx. TOTVS is also a Brazilian company that has been operating in the ERP software market since 1983. It was founded by Laércio Cosentino.
Check out how the entire acquisition process went. Keep reading!
As soon as you can, click on “ Linx Stores ”. This way, you can see two examples of online stores created and managed with the Linx Commerce platform!
STONE BUYS LINX FOR BRL 6,7 BILLION
Stone's purchase of Linx took place on November 17, shortly after Linx's shareholder approval. Altogether, there were 55,95% of votes in favor of the acquisition, 20,01% of votes against and only 3,79% of abstentions.
In addition, shareholders voted in favor of Stone, which is now listed on the Nasdaq stock market, not having to enter a new market, in this case the official Brazilian stock exchange, B3, to complete the deal.
It was not easy, however, for Stone to complete the purchase. In August, the fintech made an offer of R$ 6,04 billion, but TOTVS got in the way with a counter offer of R$ 33,81 in each of Linx's 179 million shares, which corresponds to the amount of R$ $6,05 billion.
Then, Stone raised the tone by offering BRL 35,10 per share, which totals BRL 6,28 billion. Then, more recently, it raised its proposal to R$ 6,7 billion. That is, R$ 700 million more than its initial proposal.
Now, for the acquisition to be definitively sealed, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense needs to seal the deal. This CADE approval process can take three to six months to complete.
With the purchase, Stone gains 50 new customers in Brazil and abroad. Fintech directors are already talking about bringing Linx's retail operations closer to financial services. That is, they intend to create technological combinations to better serve shopkeepers like you.
As soon as you can, also click on “ Linx buys Humanus ”.
STONE BUYS LINX: CONTROVERSY
One of the great controversies of the purchase of Linx by Stone occurred around the terms of non-competition that will apply to the founders of Linx. At first, the contract would be for three years, but later it became five.
In the first contract, Menache, Fernandes and Dayan would receive together R$ 305 million. However, in the second version, this value was reduced by up to 40%. Menache will then receive R$19 million per year (total of R$95 million) plus R$5 million for a one-year contract with Stone. Fernandes and Dayan will receive R$ 15 million and R$ 3 million per year, respectively.
Finally, I take this opportunity to mention that the e-Plus agency is a Linx partner . Since 2019, we have been certified to create and operate Linx stores. In fact, we already have some clients like Inovathi and Prescrita Medicamentos for whom we have already produced online stores using the Linx Commerce platform.
As soon as you can, also click on “ 10 reasons to create an online store with Linx e-commerce ”.
