FinTech Payment Firm Nuvei Files IPO In Canada

Nuvei Corp., Canada’s largest private non-bank payment processor, filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in Canada Tuesday (Sept. 2), seeking to raise as much as $600 million, a source told Reuters.

The Montreal-based payment technology company was valued at $2 billion at the close of 2019. The news service, citing a source, said the IPO is expected to push that valuation to more than $3 billion.

If approved by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the country’s equivalent of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the stock would be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the “NVEI” ticker.

Nuvei did not disclose the amount it is planning to raise or the price of shares, Reuters reported. The company said it plans to use net proceeds from the offering to repay debt.

The lead underwriter for the offering is Goldman Sachs Canada in cooperation with book managers Credit Suisse Securities Canada Inc, BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and RBC Capital Markets.

Last month, Bloomberg News reported if Nuvei’s application to go public gets the green light from regulators, it could be the largest Canadian technology IPO of 2020.

Nuvei completed a $270 million equity financing deal in December from its existing shareholders, the Canadian private-equity firm Novacap and Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, one of the largest Canadian institutional investors.

The deal put the company’s value at $2 billion and allowed Nuvei to plan its growth, Nuvei said at the time. But if Nuvei goes public, a source told Bloomberg the IPO would boost that valuation.

Founded in 2003, Nuvei said its platform connects the major payment card platforms worldwide, and supports more than 450 payment methods and 150 currencies.

Last summer, Nuvei purchased payments firm SafeCharge International Group for $889 million. The London-based payment platform said it connects more than 150 payment methods to major players, including Visa and Mastercard.

“By marrying SafeCharge’s market-leading technology and Nuvei’s established distribution channels in the U.S. and Canada, Nuvei will now be able to deliver fully-supported payment solutions to its clients and distribution networks, regardless of size, vertical or geography,” said David Lewin, partner at Novacap, in a statement at the time.