San Francisco, Aug 2 (IANS): Financial payments services firm Square, run by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, has announced to acquire Australian company Afterpay for $29 billion in an all-stock deal.

Afterpay, the pioneering global 'buy now, pay later' (BNPL) platform, will accelerate Square's strategic priorities for its Seller and Cash App ecosystems.

Square plans to integrate Afterpay into its existing Seller and Cash App business units, enable even the smallest of merchants to offer BNPL at checkout.

The integration will also give Afterpay consumers the ability to manage their installment payments directly in Cash App, and give Cash App customers the ability to discover merchants and BNPL offers directly within the app, the two companies said in a joint statement late on Sunday.

"Square and Afterpay have a shared purpose. We built our business to make the financial system more fair, accessible, and inclusive, and Afterpay has built a trusted brand aligned with those principles," said Dorsey, Co-Founder and CEO of Square.

"Together, we can better connect our Cash App and Seller ecosystems to deliver even more compelling products and services for merchants and consumers, putting the power back in their hands."

The closing of the transaction is expected in the first quarter of calendar year 2022.

"By combining with Square, we will further accelerate our growth in the US and globally, offer access to a new category of in-person merchants, and provide a broader platform of new and valuable capabilities and services to our merchants and consumers," said Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar, Afterpay co-founders and co-CEOs.

Afterpay's co-founders and co-CEOs will join Square upon completion of the transaction.

Afterpay serves more than 16 million consumers and nearly 100,000 merchants globally, including major retailers across key verticals such as fashion, homewares, beauty, sporting goods and more.