Reckon agrees to sell Accountants Practice Management Group for $100 million, Novatti to benefit

ASX-listed Reckon have entered into an agreement with The Access Group to sell its Accountants Practice Management Group in an all-cash sale for $100 million.

The transaction is for the sale of assets used by the Accountants Practice Management Group which comprises the APS Practice Management and the Reckon Elite Practice Management products.

Completion of the sale is conditional on, and subject to, regulatory approval from the ACCC and the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), and customary closing conditions.

The transaction is expected to complete within the next three months.

The biggest winner of the transaction are Reckon’s shareholders which will be paid a special dividend once the divestment is settled, subject to regulatory approval.

Fellow listed company Novatti Group holds almost 20% of Reckon shares as a fintech company specialising in digital payments technology but only acquired that strategic stake last year for approximately $22 million.

Since then, Novatti and Reckon have entered into a working relationship where Novatti provides Reckon’s 114,000 software users with merchant services, enabling them to accept online payments from Visa or Mastercard with Novatti and Reckon splitting profits generated from merchant fees.

By acquiring the strategic stake, Novatti secured exposure to those 114,000 prospective customers, and has already enjoyed more than $1.1m in fully franked dividends.

With the special dividend from the sale proceeds coming their way, Novatti effectively acquired their 19.88% stake in Reckon for a nominal amount in what now looks a stroke of genius by Novatti CEO Peter Cook.