Goldman Sachs agrees to buy GreenSky for 2.24bn

Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to buy GreenSky Inc for about $2.24 billion, adding to its Marcus consumer-banking platform a company that offers payment plans to customers with home-improvement
projects or health-care needs.
The New York-based bank will pay 0.03 share of its common stock for each share
of Atlanta-based GreenSky, which works out to about $12.11 a share, according to a statement.
In buying GreenSky, the bank is adding a fintech firm that works with more than 10,000 merchants to offer payment
options to their customers.

Consumers, especially younger people, have flocked in recent years to buy-now, pay-later programs offered by companies including Afterpay Ltd and Affirm Holdings Inc. Goldman is already working with Apple Inc on a buy-now, pay-later program, people with knowledge of the matter said in July. In buying GreenSky, the bank is adding a fintech firm that works with more than 10,000 merchants to offer payment options to their customers.
“We have been clear in our aspiration for Marcus to become the consumer-banking platform of the future, and the acquisition of GreenSky advances this goal,” Goldman Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said in the statement. “GreenSky and its talented team have built an impressive, cloud-native platform that will allow Marcus to reach a new and active set of merchants and customers.”
Banks use GreenSky’s technology to provide loans to super-prime and prime consumers, according to the statement. It services a $9 billion loan portfolio and about 4 million customers have financed more than $30 billion of purchases using its technology since GreenSky was founded by David Zalik in 2006.
The boards of Goldman and GreenSky have already approved the acquisition. The deal, subject to approval by GreenSky stockholders, is slated to close in the fourth quarter of this year or first quarter of 2022.