Visma Norge Holding AS (“Visma”) and Aprila Bank ASA (“Aprila”) have signed a letter of intent to accelerate financing to Norwegian small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) through online accounting systems.

Visma plans to invest NOK 22.5 million in Aprila at a share price of NOK 7.50, and to transfer the business of Visma Finance AS (a wholly owned subsidiary of Visma) to Aprila.

The transaction will substantially enhance the parties’ ability to provide working capital to SMBs in Norway, and will improve the offering of financing products embedded in online accounting systems, such as Tripletex and eAccounting, with Aprila as lender. Tripletex and Visma eAccounting are among the leading online accounting systems in Norway, and are used by more than 100,000 Norwegian SMBs.

“Visma’s mission is to simplify the work of companies and organizations of all sizes, and offering quick and simple financing through our accounting software is a natural part of that. But we have no plans to become a bank, and this agreement with Aprila shows that we are actively seeking out modern fintech partners to deliver the best solutions for our customers”, says Steffen Torp, CCO of Visma.
 
“We are excited about the opportunity to further strengthen our partnership with Visma and get them onboard as a long-term strategic shareholder. This transaction will bring us much closer to our ambition of closing the SMB funding gap in Norway, through frictionless financing inside online accounting systems”, says Halvor Lande, CEO of Aprila.

While the Norwegian operations of Visma Finance will be transferred to Aprila as part of the transaction, Visma will continue to provide financial services in the Swedish market through Visma Finance AB.

For questions, please contact:

Visma: Chief Commercial Officer Steffen Torp, steffen.torp@visma.com, +47 47 60 00 82

Aprila: Chief Executive Officer Halvor Lande, halvor@aprila.no, +47 92 43 23 05