By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--Australian buy-now-pay-later operator Afterpay Ltd. has delayed a shareholder vote on its takeover by Square Inc. while the U.S. payments firm waits on regulatory approval from Spain.

Afterpay said the vote originally scheduled for December 6 could now be rescheduled for early 2022. Square expects Bank of Spain approval by mid-January but the deadline for its application is February 21, Afterpay said.

Afterpay said both companies remained confident of approval and still expected the deal to complete in the first quarter of the 2022 calendar year.

Square's all-stock offer to acquire Afterpay was worth about US$29 billion when the deal was announced in August. Shares in Square have lost almost 30% of their value since late August and are down by more than 20% on their price prior to the announcement.

Afterpay said Bank of Spain approval was the only regulatory condition yet to be met for the transaction to proceed. Overseas investment regulators in Australia, New Zealand and Spain have given their go-ahead, while Australia's competition watchdog has said it does not plan a public review.

Square wants to use Afterpay, which generates the bulk of its revenue from merchants but widely engages with consumers to drive business, to tie its Cash App and seller ecosystems more closely together.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-01-21 1743ET