Oxigen Services, the payments solutions provider, is planning to break away from its online business that runs Oxigen wallet into a separate company and is in talks with investors to raise Rs 1,300 crore to build a new brand. This new company will be called Phi Enterprises.
Phi Enterprises will operate the online business, while Oxigen Services will manage the offline activities of the Noida-based firm like remittances, and act as a business correspondent for banks that do not have a footprint in the hinterland.
As per the company’s Chairman and Managing Director Pramod Saxena, “The step is taken to prevent the online businesses from eating into profits of the company’s offline model, which works through 200,000 touch points across the country.
The company plans to raise USD100-125 million through a lead investor, while two or three smaller investors will put in the rest of the money.
Phi Enterprises will acquire new customers and build the Oxigen brand through online marketing. “There will be a direct connect between the online and the offline companies because the management will be the same”, the CMD further said.
The new company will be similar to the original one, as every shareholder of Oxigen will have equal stake in Phi Enterprises as well.
Also, by appointing Sachin Tendulkar as the brand ambassador, Oxigen services has embarked on a massive brand-building exercise.
