CAB Payments Goes Public Amid Tepid UK IPO Market

Great Britain’s CAB Payments raised $426 million upon becoming a public company Thursday (July 6).

The firm, which had announced its initial public offering (IPO) plans last month, is a B2B foreign exchange and cross-border payments company.

“Today marks the start of the next exciting chapter in the company’s history and we are delighted that CAB Payments has begun trading as a public company on the London Stock Exchange,” CEO Bhairav Trivedi said in a news release.

Ann Cairns, chair of the company’s board, said last month that taking CAB public shows its confidence in the U.K. “as the home for innovative and growing global businesses.”

But lately, not every business has shown the same enthusiasm. The same day Cairns made that comment saw the news that another British firm — WE Soda — had called off its plans to go public on the London market.

The company, which makes the manufacturing compound soda ash, had hoped to raise $759 million through its IPO flotation, at a valuation of more than $7.5 billion.

However, the company told BBC news that investors in the U.K. “remain extremely cautious” and it could not reach a valuation it saw as fair.

As PYMNTS has written, many tech companies in the U.K. have decided not to go public in their home country, a trend demonstrated by British semiconductor designer Arm’s move to list in New York instead London.

PYMNTS spoke with CAB’s Trivedi earlier this year about the company’s plans to expand its worldwide market share, particularly in post-Brexit Europe, where it is looking to obtain a payment license to do business in all 27 European Union states.

Giving customers access a 24-hour trading service is also a key priority: “We want them to trade when they want to trade, not when they have to trade,” Trivedi said, adding that selling to customers in their local markets, rather of operating solely from its U.K. headquarters, is also one of CAB’s aims.

He told PYMNTS it boils down to fostering an environment where users can send money quickly, cheaply and securely, while at the most competitive exchange rates.

“What are the key things if I’m sending money? I want speed. I want efficiency. I want security. I need to know that my money is going to get sent at the best price possible, and that means a low fee and an amazing exchange rate,” he said. “Those are really the core drivers for the business going forward.”