Dec 2 (Reuters) - Afterpay Ltd will delay a
shareholder meet to approve Square Inc's $29-billion
buyout of the Australian buy now, pay later leader, as the Jack
Dorsey-led payment company awaits regulatory nod in Spain.
The investor meet was set for Dec. 6, but Afterpay said it
would likely take place next year as Square, which has rebranded
itself to Block Inc https://www.reuters.com/technology/dorsey-led-square-rebrands-block-2021-12-01,
is likely to get an approval from the Bank of Spain only in
mid-January.
The delay is unlikely to impact the completion of
Australia's biggest deal https://www.reuters.com/technology/square-buy-australias-afterpay-29-billion-2021-08-01,
which is set for the first quarter of 2022, Afterpay said.
"We continue to believe the risks of the transaction closing
are minimal," RBC Capital Markets analyst Chami Ratnapala said
in a brief client note.
Meanwhile, Twitter Inc co-founder Dorsey is
expected to focus on Square after stepping down as chief
executive of the social media platform as it looks to expand
beyond its payment business and into new technologies like
blockchain.
Afterpay shares fell more than 6%, far underperforming the
broader Australian market, tracking Square's 6.6% drop
overnight in U.S. market on worries over the Omicron variant.
(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian, Sameer Manekar and Indranil Sarkar
in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Rashmi Aich and Arun
Koyyur)