Nuvei to be acquired by US-based Advent and taken private in $6.3-billion USD deal

Montréal payments company Nuvei has entered into an agreement to be purchased and privatized by American private equity firm Advent International.

Founder Philip Fayer will continue to lead Nuvei, which will remain based in Montréal.

Boston-based Advent has agreed to buy Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq-listed Nuvei and take it private in a deal that values the Canadian FinTech firm at $6.3 billion USD. The announcement comes two weeks after The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) first reported that the two companies were engaged in advanced buyout discussions.

Advent is offering Nuvei shareholders $34 per share, a premium of 56 percent relative to its closing share price on the Nasdaq on March 15, before the WSJ report. Pending shareholder and regulatory approval, the all-cash transaction is expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025.

The deal is set to make Nuvei the latest in a growing list of publicly traded Canadian tech businesses returning to private companies, a list that also includes BBTV Holdings, Dialogue Health Technologies, Magnet Forensics, MDF Commerce, Q4 Inc, and TrueContext, among others. For Nuvei, the deal comes about 3.5 years after it first went public in September 2020.

As part of this deal, Nuvei founder Philip Fayer will continue to head the company as chair and CEO alongside its existing leadership team, and Nuvei will remain headquartered in Montréal. Fayer is rolling over “substantially all of his existing equity,” while other existing Nuvei shareholders, private equity firm Novacap and pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, are rolling over “a majority” of their existing equity.

“This transaction marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Nuvei, and we are glad to partner with Advent to continue to deliver for our customers and employees and capitalize on the significant opportunities that this investment provides,” Fayer said in a statement.

Founded in 2003, Nuvei provides payments tech and services to businesses around the world and counts Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds among its investors. According to Nuvei, the company stands to benefit from Advent’s resources and operational and FinTech expertise.

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“Nuvei has created a differentiated global payments platform with an innovative product offering that serves attractive payments end markets like global e-commerce, B2B, and embedded payments,” Advent managing director Bo Huang said in a statement. “Our deep expertise and experience in payments give us conviction in the opportunity to support Nuvei as it continues to scale from its base in Canada as a global player in the space.”

Nuvei announced the Advent deal hours after the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization halted trading of Nuvei’s shares, citing “pending news” following a Bloomberg report that Advent was putting the finishing touches on its offer for Nuvei. After the announcement was made, Nuvei was permitted to resume trading.

On March 16, WSJ reported that Advent was in advanced buyout talks with Nuvei. The following day, Nuvei confirmed that it was engaged in talks with “certain third parties” about a potential takeover transaction that could lead to privatization. In the wake of this news, Nuvei’s shares have risen by nearly 49 percent at time of publication, and currently trade at $32.35 apiece on the Nasdaq.

The buyout marks a sizeable go-private agreement at a time when private equity dealmaking has slowed.

Feature image courtesy Nuvei.