Payment processors and fintechs are rapidly consolidating in a series of M&A deals, and Canadian payments company Nuvei is making its bet via a $889 million deal to acquire SafeCharge.
The acquisition of SafeCharge represents an aggressive expansion move by the Montreal-based Nuvei in light of several recent industry consolidation efforts in payment processing and merchant acquiring sectors such as the recent $43 billion acquisition of
The Guernsey, U.K.-based SafeCharge sells hosted omnichannel payment pages for online businesses. Nuvei hopes to expand its geographic footprint in Europe, addressing an industrywide need to support cross-border e-commerce payments for small to medium sized businesses.
According to a regulatory filing by
The Guernsey, U.K.-based SafeCharge noted the offer represents a 41% premium over the three month volume weighted average share price of its stock and a 56% premium over six month volume weighted share price. This suggests the cost of acquisitions in the payments industry is getting more expensive as the stock price of potential targets is rising.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019 pending regulatory approval. Last year
