Paysafe Readies $9 Billion IPO Via SPAC

Online payments firm Paysafe is nearing a deal with billionaire Bill Foley for a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger, according to a Bloomberg report, intending for Paysafe to go public.

Paysafe is backed by Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners, and the deal with Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp II is set to create an entity worth around $9 billion, according to sources quoted by Bloomberg. The SPAC is likely to raise around $1 billion in new equity to bolster the transaction.

Foley’s Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II SPAC raised $1.47 billion in an August initial public offering (IPO), and its shares on Friday sat at $10.62 with a market value of $1.95 billion, Bloomberg reported. Foley has worked with SPAC mergers in the finance sector before, with one of his private ventures working with Blackstone in 2017 to buy insurer Fidelity & Guaranty Life.

In addition, Foley launched another SPAC, Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp., but that is not involved in the deal with Paysafe, Bloomberg reported.

The $9 billion price tag would make this one of the larger SPAC mergers of the year, behind the MultiPlan merger with Churchill Capital Plan for $11 billion and the pending United Wholesale Mortgage $16 billion deal with Gores Holding IV, Bloomberg reported.

Paysafe, based in London and bought in 2017 for 3 billion pounds ($4 billion) by Blackstone and CVC, offers payment services for companies to accept credit cards, cash and direct debit transfers online, along with prepaid cards and digital wallets. It operates through brands like Income Access, Paysafecard, Skrill and Neteller, Bloomberg reported.

Earlier this year, Paysafe debuted its Skrill Money Transfer service, letting U.S. customers transfer to Mexico, India and 16 other countries in Asia and Europe, with more to come. The company said that with the pandemic, the ability to send remittances easily has never been more important for immigrants and expats to help their loved ones. It’s free to open a Skrill account and there are no assessed fees or mark-ups associated with sending money.