New Zealand-based buy now, pay later lender Laybuy has entered receivership after failing to find a buyer for its struggling business.
Laybuy was listed on the Australian stock exchange in 2020, reaching a share price of A$2.30 at its peak. However, it delisted last year after its shares fell to just A0.6 cents. The company had to reduce its workforce by a third in July 2022 after attempts to secure fresh capital and plans to divest its UK operations were unsuccessful.
Founder Gary Rohloff noted, “While we have been making good progress over the last two years, the economic downturn has been longer than we expected, significantly impacting the retail sector in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This has resulted in reduced consumer spending, higher credit losses, and increased fraudulent activity, compounded by rising financing costs, creating a challenging situation.”
Deloitte has been appointed to manage an orderly wind-down of operations, and customers have been warned of potential temporary interruptions to services, with the possibility of brief offline periods.
In 2021, Laybuy raised A$35 million to expand into the UK market, although the UK-based entities continue to operate and are not part of the receivership.