Digital payment company Nexi has raised $2.3 billion in its initial public offering (IPO), making it the largest European IPO this year so far, according to Bloomberg. It is also the third IPO for a payments-related company in less than a year.
Shares in Nexi were given at nine euros apiece, which gave the company a value of 7.3 billion euros, with debt. The company sold shares to upwards of 340 investors from around the globe, and more than 100 were from Italy, where the company is based. The offers also included a capital increase of 700 million euros.
Investors in the company include Bain Capital, Clessidra SGR and Advent International, who will all free float 35.6 percent. The company’s debt stands at 1.7 billion euros, and the proceeds from the capital increase are going toward reducing that.
The shares begin trading on April 16 in Milan, and the company’s equity value is about 5.7 billion euros.
The payment company is a credit card issuer and also an ATM manager, and its IPO comes in the wake of two other notable ones: Network International, which went public in London on April 10 and Adyen NV, scheduled for June in Amsterdam.
The European IPO market had a slow start to the year, but the Nexi move and others show that it’s starting to warm up, Bloomberg reported.
The last very large IPO in Europe was German brake company Knorr-Bremse, which had a 3.8 billion euro share listing in October of last year.
As the largest payment company in Italy, Nexi has agreements with around 150 banks in the country, and also a 60 percent market share in card issuing. The company posted a net income of 20 million euros last year and an operating revenue of 931 million euros.
The IPO was helped along by Goldman Sachs Group, Banca IMI, Bank of America, Credit Suisse Group and Mediobanca, which all served as the joint global coordinator.
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