Itaú Chile has agreed to acquire 100% of Multicaja S.A. and Iswitch S.A., operating under the Klap brand, for approximately $40 billion Chilean pesos (roughly $42 million USD), marking a pivotal move to dominate **Chile’s payments ecosystem** and accelerate digital transformation for SMEs and merchants.[1][3][7]
💼 M&A / PE diligence in 24 hours? Yes, thanks to AI!
Deal Structure and Financial Terms
The transaction, formalized via a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) with sellers including Sonda S.A., Inder SpA, Etcheberry Asesoría y Negocios SpA, and Javier Etcheberry Celhay—former director of Chile’s Internal Revenue Service—remains subject to customary adjustments and regulatory approvals.[3][7] Closing hinges on clearances from Chile’s Comisión para el Mercado Financiero (CMF), Brazil’s Central Bank, and the Fiscalía Nacional Económica (FNE) for antitrust review, reflecting standard hurdles in **cross-border M&A in Latin American fintech**.[1][3]
| Key Deal Metrics | Details |
|---|---|
| Acquisition Price | $40 billion CLP (subject to adjustments) |
| Target Entities | Multicaja S.A. (acquirer since 2021) and Iswitch S.A. (Klap brand) |
| Sellers | Sonda S.A., Inder SpA, Etcheberry entities |
| Market Share | 8.4% in Chile’s payments; ~30,000 POS, 80M monthly transactions |
| Regulatory Approvals | CMF, Banco Central do Brasil, FNE |
Klap’s Operational Profile and Strategic Fit
Founded 17 years ago as Multicaja, Klap has evolved into a key player in **Chile’s fintech payments landscape**, boasting 30,000 affiliated points of sale (70% SMEs) and processing 80 million transactions monthly.[3] In Q3 2025, Klap reported revenue growth driven by acquiring services, surpassing 731 million annual transactions amid rising digital commerce adoption.[4][8] Its migration to a SaaS model on BPC’s SmartVista platform enabled real-time operations, ditching batch processing for traceable, cloud-native accounting—aligning with LatAm trends in **payments cloud migration and AI-driven fraud prevention**.[2]
For Itaú Chile, the deal integrates issuing and acquiring capabilities, forging a comprehensive ecosystem of payments, transactional services, and SME financing. CEO Andre Gailey emphasized it as a “strategic milestone” to bolster client-centric solutions, fueling **pyme digitalization** in a market still grappling with cash dominance and fraud risks.[1][3]
Broader Implications for LatAm Fintech M&A
This acquisition underscores **private equity exit strategies in LatAm fintech** and banks’ aggressive push into payments amid 2025’s digital surge. Similar to Transbank’s dominance and regional plays like Pix in Brazil, it positions Itaú to capture SME growth in Chile’s evolving ecosystem, where cloud, tokenization, and data lakes drive approval rates and scalability.[2][8] For deal advisors, expect heightened FNE scrutiny on concentration, mirroring global trends in **cross-border M&A trends 2025** where regulators prioritize competition in high-velocity sectors like payments.[1]
Itaú’s move echoes McKinsey insights on banking-fintech convergence, where incumbents acquire agile players to embed payments into core offerings, potentially yielding 15-20% synergies in transaction volumes and cross-sell opportunities for C-level strategies targeting **SaaS payments platforms in emerging markets**.
Comparable Deals Snapshot
- ETPay Chile Acquisition (2025): Fintech consolidation in LatAm payments hubs.[10]
- Transbank Q4 2024 Results: $9.8B CLP profits despite 63% YoY drop, highlighting sector volatility.[8]
- BCP Peru Cashless Withdrawals: Parallel innovations in instant payments infrastructure.[8]
Sources
https://www.cnnchile.com/negocios/itau-chile-compra-klap-por-40-mil-millones-ecosistema-de-pagos_20251216/, https://www.latamfintech.co/articles/all-whales-migrate-to-cloud-pagos-cloud-e-inteligencia-artificial-en-el-centro-de-la-transformacion-regional-conferencia-anual-de-clientes-de-bpc, https://www.latercera.com/pulso/noticia/sonda-anuncia-venta-de-klap-empresa-de-medios-de-pago-donde-tambien-tiene-propiedad-el-exdirector-del-sii-a-itau/, https://chocale.cl/notpay/, https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/12/16/3206138/0/en/Ita%C3%BA-Chile-announces-the-acquisition-of-Klap-and-takes-a-decisive-step-in-Chile-s-payments-ecosystem.html, https://www.fintechile.org, https://www.diarioestrategia.cl/texto-diario/mostrar/5706086/itau-acuerda-compra-operadora-tarjetas-pago-klap, https://www.paymentmedia.com/subcat-Noticias-destacadas-pago-Others.html, https://www.marketscreener.com/news/ita-chile-acquires-klap-advances-in-payments-ecosystem-ce7d50deda8dfe26, https://www.paymentmedia.com/category-Noticias-destacadas-pago.html, https://chocale.cl/2025/12/itau-chile-acuerda-compra-de-klap-por-40-mil-millones/, https://cryptojanusz.pl/events, https://ch.zonebourse.com/actualite-bourse/ita-chile-acquiert-klap-et-progresse-dans-l-ecosysteme-des-paiements-ce7d50deda8dfe26, https://forbes.cl/negocios/2025-12-16/itau-chile-acuerda-compra-de-klap-por-40-000-millones-de-dolares, https://www.globenewswire.com/search/subject/MNA
