Nuvei To Acquire SafeCharge For $889M

In an all-cash deal valued at $889 million, Nuvei Corp plans to purchase SafeCharge International Group Ltd. The firms noted that shareholders of SafeCharge would receive $5.55 of cash for every share – a premium of 25 percent to the stock’s closing price on Tuesday (May 21), Reuters reported.

SafeCharge shares increased by as high as 24 percent to 435 pence, which was near the 436 pence that Nuvei offered prior to “paring some of the gains,” per the report. SafeCharge noted that shareholders would still get a final dividend of 7.22 pence per share, which was previously announced.

Nuvei, which is based in Plano, Texas, was known at one point as Pivotal Payments prior to becoming renamed. Credit Suisse is serving as a financial adviser for Nuvei, while Shore Capital is reportedly in that capacity for SafeCharge. The deal comes amid the market debut of Finablr in the UAE and Network International in Britain.

In other recent news, digital payment company Nexi notched $2.3 billion in its initial public offering (IPO). The event marked the third IPO for a company related to payments in less than a year, and was reportedly the largest European IPO this year as of April. Shares of the company were given at nine euros each, which provided the firm with a value of 7.3 billion euros with debt.

The firm sold shares to upwards of 340 investors from around the world, and more than 100 from Italy. The offers also encompassed a capital increase of 700 million euros. Bain Capital, Advent International and Clessidra SGR were investors in the company. It was reported that the firm’s debt stood at 1.7 billion euros, and capital increase proceeds are going toward decreasing that. The European IPO market had a slow start to 2019, but the Nexi move and others signal that it is starting to warm up.