European Commission Will Not Oppose Advent Acquisition of Nuvei

The European Commission will not oppose the proposed acquisition of payment technology provider Nuvei by private equity firm Advent International.

European Commission Director-General Olivier Guersent notified the buyers of the decision in a Tuesday (July 16) letter, saying the deal is compatible with the internal market and with the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement.

The proposed acquisition has also gained approval from China, from a Canadian court and from shareholders, Seeking Alpha reported Wednesday (July 17).

Shareholders approved the transaction on June 18 after Nuvei advised them to do so, saying the agreement is “in the best interests of the company … and represents an increase of approximately 42% from the consideration initially proposed by Advent.”

Nuvei announced the $6.3 billion deal on April 1, with Nuvei CEO Philip Fayer, who will control nearly a quarter of the equity in the private company, saying in a press release that the transaction marks “the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Nuvei.”

“Our strategic initiatives have always focused on accelerating our customers’ revenue, driving innovation across our technology, and developing our people,” Fayer said in the release. “Bringing in a partner with such extensive experience in the payments sector will continue to support our development.”

Going private affords firms the strategy of pursuing market opportunities without being marked to market on public exchanges each day, PYMNTS reported on April 2.

In the time since the proposed deal was announced, Nuvei has continued adding products and partnerships.

On April 11, the firm said that it launched a service that enables merchants to access its Invoice Financing solutions directly within their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

The company’s Invoice Financing solutions enable businesses to access cash within 24 hours by converting outstanding invoices into immediate working capital and enhance cash flow with one-click financing integrated into the ERP system.

On Thursday (July 11), Nuvei said it teamed up with Mastercard to help consumers turn digital assets into fiat currency.

This collaboration is open to consumers in Europe and lets them convert their assets via debit, credit and prepaid cards, the companies said when announcing the partnership.