Just over a year after going public on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), Nuvei has filed for an initial public offering in the United States.
The Montreal-based payment processing company plans to offer a total of 1.5 million subordinate voting shares and has applied to list its shares on the Nasdaq under the symbol ‘NVEI.’ The FinTech firm has not yet set a target price for the offering.
UPDATE (06/10/2021): Nuvei has since started trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market as of October 6 and priced its offering. Underwriters have agreed to purchase an aggregate of three million subordinate voting shares at a price of $123.14 USD per share. The company expects gross proceeds of $369,420,000 USD. The offering is expected to close on October 8 and is subject to a number of customary conditions.
UPDATE (12/10/2021): Nuvei officially closed its US IPO on October 8, raising a total of nearly $425 million USD through the sale of 3.45 million shares, 450,000 of which were part of a fully exercised over-allotment option.
Nuvei plans to use proceeds from the offering, which remains subject to a number of conditions, including Nasdaq and TSX approval, to strengthen its financial position and support its growth strategies.
Nuvei plans to use proceeds from the offering to strengthen its financial position and support its growth strategies.
Founded by Chairman and CEO Philip Fayer in 2003, Nuvei offers payment solutions to retail merchants and tech and distribution companies. The company’s clients span Canada, the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region. Nuvei went public on the TSX in September 2020, raising $833 million USD through its initial public offering (IPO). The company currently trades on the TSX under the symbol ‘NVEI.’
Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, BMO Capital Markets, and RBC Capital Markets will act as bookrunners for Nuvei’s Nasdaq offering.
With the move, Nuvei joins a growing list of Canadian tech companies that have filed to go public this fall, following a summer slowdown in IPOs that began after VerticalScope and LifeSpeak made their TSX debuts in June. This list includes Vancouver-based decision analytics software firm Copperleaf Technologies, which aims to raise $125 million through its TSX IPO, and Montreal advertising exchange Sharethrough, which filed to go public on the TSX yesterday.
According to The Globe and Mail, these Canadian tech startups aren’t the only ones aiming to tap public markets to fuel their growth: Waterloo-based e-learning company D2L also reportedly plans to go public on the TSX next month, and Calgary software firm Circle Cardiovascular has its sights set on a potential IPO as early as next year.
Nuvei saw strong second quarter results this year, including revenues of $223.3 million CAD, a 114 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The company’s net income also rose from $17.5 million CAD in Q2 2020 to $48.7 million in the second quarter of this year. According to Nuvei, this performance was driven by a combination of volume growth from current customers and new clients.
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In June, Nuvei disclosed plans to raise up to $1.8 billion USD through new issues or secondary offerings over the next 19 months. These types of offerings serve as a means for public companies to raise capital and can be used to support various business strategies, including acquisition efforts.
This year, Nuvei has inked deals to acquire Israeli cryptocurrency startup Simplex for $250 million USD and United States-based gaming payments provider Mazooma for up to $315 million. During Nuvei’s Q1 earnings call, Fayer said Nuvei plans to remain active in the merger and acquisition market.
Last month, Nuvei completed its acquisition of Simplex, and continued its Latin American expansion with the acquisition of Paymentez, a Miami-based payments platform for digital goods and financial services that serves 11 countries in the region, including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.
Some of the company’s key shareholders sold $500 million worth of company shares as part of a bought deal secondary offering in June.
RELATED: Nuvei to acquire Simplex for $250 million USD
In recent months, Nuvei has focused some of its efforts on expanding the company’s presence in the US-based online betting sector, inking partnerships to serve as the payment tech provider for a variety of gaming companies and sportsbooks, including Sports Illustrated and BetMGM. The firm’s acquisition of Mazooma, which closed in August, was part of this push.
Earlier this month, the company promoted Max Attias from chief operating officer to group chief technology officer (CTO), replacing Keith Birdsong following his retirement October 1 after serving as Nuvei CTO for 11 years.
Nuvei also announced the addition of Guillaume Conteville, former Mastercard senior VP and global head of digital marketing, as chief marketing officer, and Nikki Zinman, who previously served as senior VP of human resources at Pearson, as chief people officer.
Photo of Philip Fayer from Nuvei