Chief executive of EML Payments, Tom Cregan, said he was determined to get the deal with Financial Payment Systems through despite the uncertain economic conditions. EML Shares gained up to 62 per cent to $3.11 today after it announced it was still proceeding with the deal at a lower acquisition price.

"The easy thing is just to walk away and say 'lets not bother to take any risk of any kind'. Both parties had the opportunity to do that,'' Mr Cregan told Markets Live.

"To me, we are still going to take measured risk in business and had we not closed the deal, yes we would have had a ton of money on the balance sheet, but it would not have fundamentally changed the business.''

EML raised $250 million from shareholders late last year to fund the acquisition. PFS gains an 8 per cent stake in EML from the deal. Ireland-based PFS is privately owned.

A week or so after it became clear markets were tumbling in response to Coronavirus lockdown, EML met with the PFS shareholders and said they could only proceed if EML was left with $120 million of cash ''because investors are looking for companies in survival mode, not growth mode''. This means EML can survive for a full two years without any revenue, however, he does not imagine that will happen as nearly half PFS' revenue comes from distributing welfare.