Goldman Sachs has reportedly unveiled its plans to acquire B2B2C lenders GreenSky in transactions worth $ 2.24 billion. The acquisition, however, awaits regulatory approval and is expected to conclude in the fourth quarter of 2020 or the first quarter of 2021. This deal is supposed to fortify the company’s consumer business and will help it attract more consumers to its brand-Marcus of financial products.

Marcus was reportedly established five years ago by Goldman as a consumer-centric brand. This move was apparently aimed at combating the growth of the neobanks, fintech start-ups, and online trading platforms that emerged in the last decade. The brand is known to have attracted 8 million users since its establishment, which keeps it ahead of several competitor banks. With the acquisition of GreenSky, the company is looking forward to adding another way to attract consumers to Marcus.

For the uninitiated, GreenSky operates a platform that provides loans for high-value products including home renovation projects, medical procedures, or dental practices. The company helps brands such as Home Depot to provide installment loans to their customers which, in turn, increases sales and conversions.   

If sources are to be believed, this new deal seems to be a way Goldman plans to debut in the “buy now and pay later” business and offer the Marcus users yet another way to finance their customers.

Commenting on the new transaction, the Global Co-Head of Consumer & Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs, Stephanie Cohen stated that the acquisition is important for the company to pull GreenSky’s customers into Marcus’ ecosystem. Cohen also believes that by collaborating with GreenSky and renting out its balance sheet, it will grow at an unlimited scale.

Cohen also mentioned that Goldman or Marcus is not planning on offering BNPL rentals for daily shopping anytime soon. Green Sky is lucrative due to the expensive nature of home renovation rentals, she added.

Source credit: https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/15/goldman-greensky-bnpl/