Payments tech firm Nuvei to buy Britain’s SafeCharge for $889m

Bengaluru:

US payments technology firm Nuvei Corp said it would buy SafeCharge International Group Ltd in an all-cash deal valued at $889 million (Dh3.27 billion) to expand in the fast-growing electronic payments industry.

The companies said SafeCharge shareholders would receive $5.55 in cash for each share held, representing a 25 per cent premium to the stock’s Tuesday closing price.

The deal comes as the industry is going through an aggressive consolidation and follows a $35 billion deal by US firm FIS to buy Worldpay earlier this year.

Shares of SafeCharge rose as much as 24 per cent to 435 pence, closer to the 436 pence offered by Nuvei, before paring some of the gains.

SafeCharge said its shareholders would still receive the previously announced final dividend of 7.22 pence per share.

Previously known as Pivotal Payments, the Plano, Texas-based company renamed itself to Nuvei late last year.

The deal also comes on the heels of market debut of payments peers Britain’s Network International, Italy’s Nexi and UAE’s Finablr.

Credit Suisse and Shore Capital are acting as financial advisers for Nuvei and SafeCharge, respectively.

— Reuters