Paya (PAYA) to Be Acquired by Nuvei for $9.75 Per Share
by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2023-01-09 at 9:40am

Paya (NASDAQ:PAYA), which completed a combination with FinTech III in October 2020, announced this morning that it has agreed to be acquired by its Canadian peer Nuvei (TSX:NVEI) in an all-cash transaction at $9.75 per share.

The price tag marks a 25% premium to Paya’s last close at $7.79 per share and a 30% premium to the company’s 90-day VWAP and the company was trading below $6 just two months ago.

The deal also marks the second time a company brought public by the FinTech team, led by Chair Betsy Cohen, has locked in an attractive exit a couple of years out from de-SPAC.

FinTech I combined with CardConnect in 2016, which First Data bought up a year later for $15 per share. The team’s hits also include International Money Exchange (NASDAQ:IMXI), which last closed at $22.87 four years out from its combination with FinTech II.

Paya’s price tag isn’t quite as quite as gaudy on the face of it, but locking in -2.5% returns from the IPO price at a time when the de-SPAC’s host exchange is down more than -29% over the past year is nothing to sneeze at.

The valuation equates to 13x its 2023E adjusted EBITDA, which is lower than the 19.6x 2021E EBITDA at which that the FinTech III SPAC deal was struck. But, nearly all public companies in the payments and financial services spaces are down from the heady days coming out of the pandemic.

Many big names in the space like Block (NYSE:SQ), Bill.com (NYSE:BILL) and International Money Exchange itself have been in the red on an EBITDA basis in their most recent quarters as well.

The Paya deal also follows EQT’s take-private of another fintech de-SPAC in Billtrust announced last September. This was struck at $9.50 per share, which was a 76% premium over its 90-day VWAP.

Given the sheer number of fintech companies that have recently gone public via SPACs in recent years, there could be continued consolidation, potentially amid the de-SPACs themselves.

Earlier acquisitions of de-SPACs announced last year were more often buy-low scenarios. 2020 de-SPAC SOC Telemed announced in February it would be acquired for $3 per share, while Romeo Power (NYSE:RMO) agreed to be acquired by fellow de-SPAC Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) in August, exchanging each Romeo share for 0.1186 Nikola shares. That rate equated to roughly $0.81 per share in value on the day it was announced.

Paya, for its part, exceeded the revenue projections it made in conjunction with its deal announcement in 2021, its first year as a public company. It most recently announced it generated $71.4 million in revenue and $18.6 million in EBITDA in the third quarter of 2022.

 

Recent Posts
by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-11-21 at 12:35pm

Deals and Amendments Arogo Capital (OTC:AOGO) has received notice that its merger target Ayurcann Holdings (CSE:AYUR) has terminated their business combination citing a breach on behalf of the SPAC. Ayurcann expects to be paid a $250,000 breakup free from Arogo. News and Rumors PR: Smart TV firm Innovid (NYSE:CTV), which combined with ION 2 in...

by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-11-21 at 8:31am

At the SPAC of Dawn Wednesday night saw two more SPACs price their IPOs, which means November’s eight listings will now eclipse October’s haul of seven and the five IPOs of September. Amid this accelerating momentum, a new name could soon be seen on a number of new SPACs. EF Hutton rebranded to D. Boral...

by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-11-20 at 5:47pm

CO2 Energy Transition Corp. (NASDAQ:NOEMU) announced the pricing of its $60 million IPO and its units are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “NOEMU”, Thursday, November 21, 2024. The new SPAC intends to combine with a target company that is focused on reducing emissions through the generation of renewable energy or...

by Kristi Marvin on 2024-11-20 at 5:29pm

Dynamix Corporation (NASDAQ:DYNXU) announced the pricing of its $150 million IPO and its units are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “DYNXU”, Thursday, November 21, 2024. The new SPAC intends to focus its search on companies that are within the energy transition, oil and gas, and power sectors. Dynamix Corporation is...

by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-11-20 at 8:24am

At the SPAC of Dawn One more shoe has dropped as the President-Elect Donald Trump works to staff his incoming administration and set priorities as he has appointed Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to lead the Department of Commerce. This ends speculation about where the head of 2024’s leading SPAC underwriter would land. The question...

logo

Copyright © 2023 SPACInsider, Inc. All Rights Reserved