Montréal-based FinTech company Nuvei has filed to go public on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Nuvei filed a preliminary prospectus for its initial public offering (IPO) on Tuesday. The company, which has developed payment processing technology, has applied to be listed on the TSX under the symbol ‘NVEI.’
Nuvei has 765 employees and services more than 50,000 customers around the world.
The decision to go public by the company, which was founded in 2003, follows a successful year of financing. In December, Nuvei raised $358 million CAD in common equity financing, giving it an estimated value at the time of $2.65 billion CAD. The investment was raised mostly from existing shareholders, like Canadian private equity firm Novacap, some of Novacap’s limited partners, as well as Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).
Founded by Philip Fayer, the company’s chairman and CEO, Nuvei provides payment solutions to merchants, technology, and distribution companies, serving companies in Canada, the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific region. Formerly Pivotal Payments, the company received one of its first large investments from Goldman Sachs totalling $60 million CAD in the mid-2000s. In September 2017, Novacap and CDPQ, along with Fayer, acquired minority stakes in Nuvei.
Nuvei has 765 employees and services more than 50,000 customers around the world. In the 2019 fiscal year, the company generated $245.8 million in revenue and so far in 2020 is reporting $165.6 million in revenue.
The company, which noted plans to use its capital from last year to increase its acquisition growth, is currently in the process of purchasing Dutch payment service provider Smart2Pay. The transaction has yet to be completed. In August 2019, Nuvei acquired UK-based SafeCharge International Group for about $1.1 billion CAD.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on e-commerce seem to have benefited Nuvei, with the company reporting 40 percent year-over-year growth in July and expectations for that trend to continue in August.
“We believe the COVID-19 crisis will act as a catalyst in further accelerating mobile commerce and eCommerce transactions as consumers adapt to a ‘new normal’ (including the decline in use of cash) and as merchants shift to contactless and mobile payments to ensure business continuity,” the company wrote. “We believe our expertise in digital payments underpinned by our global acquiring capabilities and robust fraud and risk management solutions positions us well to capitalize on structural changes in favor of mobile and online commerce.”
