Credit data firm Experian bulks Australia presence with $542 million deal

(Reuters) - Credit data group Experian said on Thursday it had agreed to acquire peer illion for up to A$820 million ($542.10 million), as it taps further into a growing market in Australia and New Zealand.

Australia's central bank in December said it was considering a slate of new regulations for the payments system to open the use of mobile wallets, make costs more transparent and allow retailers to put surcharges on buy-now-pay-later services.

Australia is Experian's fifth largest country of operation by revenue, and company said the central bank reforms have "enhanced appetite" for analytical tools and data-driven services and helped expand the its addressable market opportunity.

"A series of regulatory reforms in Australia have introduced comprehensive (positive) data and open data services and have widened the array of data assets, scores and analytical insights being adopted by banks and other institutions," Experian said.

The company's key customers include banks, non-traditional lenders and insurance providers, which use its credit reports and scores to analyse and make decisions around credit risk, fraud prevention and lending terms for their clients.

It will fund illion's acquisition through its existing cash resources, and expects the deal to add about A$175 million in revenue in the first year of ownership.

Experian had reported positive third-quarter results in January and also flagged an interest in expanding its growing Latin America businesses to offset weak spots in lending market across the U.S. and the UK.

($1 = 1.5126 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Yamini Kalia and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Krishna Chandra Eluri)