In June 2025, the global payments company dLocal announced big plans to buy AZA Finance, a major African cross-border payments company.
In June 2025, the global payments company dLocal announced big plans to buy AZA Finance, a major African cross-border payments company.At the time, AZA Finance was valued at around $150 million. It looked like dLocal was about to pull off one of the biggest financial technology takeovers on the continent.
However, by February 2026, the giant deal had shrunk dramatically. Instead of buying the whole company for a massive cash sum, dLocal ended up buying just a few pieces of AZA Finance known as an asset deal valued at $23.7 million.
The story behind this shift reveals how unexpected legal dramas and complex local rules can change corporate plans overnight.
The Drama That Froze the Deal
Just one month after the exciting takeover was announced in 2025, a major roadblock appeared. The bankruptcy estate of FTX (the failed global cryptocurrency exchange) filed a $50 million lawsuit against AZA Finance. The lawsuit was connected to a previous investment made by FTX’s trading arm back in 2022.
Even though AZA Finance strongly disagreed with the lawsuit and a court eventually threw it out in December 2025, the legal battle completely froze the acquisition.
To keep AZA Finance running while the court case was happening, dLocal lent millions of dollars to the company. But to protect itself from the lawsuit, dLocal made sure it didn’t take over any voting rights or legal blame for AZA’s troubles. By the end of 2025, AZA Finance owed dLocal a total of $24.1 million in loan principal and interest.
Once the court case was finally dismissed, dLocal decided to change its strategy. Instead of paying cash to buy the entire company under its original valuation, it used a smart financial move: it forgave the $23.7 million debt that AZA owed them, paid a single nominal dollar in cash, and took home three specific assets.
The $23.7 million purchase was split into these specific pieces:
• Customer Relationships ($14.2 million): The right to take over AZA’s existing business clients across Africa. This was the most valuable part of the deal.
• Goodwill ($6.6 million): The established value, trust, and reputation of the business.
• Intellectual Property ($2.05 million): The brand names and technology behind AZA Finance.
• Mint Code Solutions ($120,000): A company based in Cameroon that holds a highly valuable local payments license.
While the deal ended up being much smaller than originally planned, it is still a major win for dLocal’s growth in Africa.
Building a payments network across Africa from scratch is incredibly slow and complicated. It can take foreign firms several years to win regulatory approvals, obtain government licenses, and build trust with local banks.
By acquiring these specific pieces, dLocal gained an instant foothold in Cameroon and the broader Francophone Central Africa region a market that is traditionally very difficult for outside companies to enter. Instead of buying a whole corporate empire, dLocal simply bought the exact keys it needed to unlock new markets.
