Monitise Shares Soar on Santander Joint Venture

By Rory Gallivan

LONDON--Shares in Monitise PLC (MONI.LN) jumped after the British mobile banking technology company announced a joint venture with its shareholder Banco Santander SA (SAN.MC) to invest in financial technology businesses.

Monitise, which already works with the Spanish bank on mobile banking projects, said both partners will provide up to 10 million pounds ($15.9 million) to the venture over two years.

Monitise said it will benefit from a "multi-million pound upfront license fee with further ongoing revenues expected to be generated by the initiative," adding that it expects to grow its client list by providing services to the companies the joint venture will support.

The joint venture will be led by Julio Faura, an "innovation leader" at Santander, and chaired by Monitise founder and former chief executive Alastair Lukies, Monitise said.

The share price rise is a welcome boost for Monitise, a former darling of the U.K. tech scene whose valuation has been battered since passing GBP1 billion last year. The valuation has been hit by a series of revenue warnings and the loss of payment card company Visa Inc. (V) as a major shareholder.

In November, Santander and Monitise announced a technology partnership that involved the former taking a 5% stake in the latter for GBP33 million, in a subscription of 108.2 million shares at 30.5 pence a share.

Shares had risen by a penny, or 9.3%, to 12 pence at 0917 GMT, valuing the company at GBP254.2 million.

Write to Rory Gallivan at [e-mail]; Twitter: @RoryGallivan

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