News

Nuvei to buy UK payments firm SafeCharge for $889M

May 23, 2019

Nuvei Corp. has agreed to buy U.K.-based payments firm SafeCharge International Group Ltd. in a cash deal valued at $889 million (669 million pounds), according to a regulatory filing.

The purchase price represents a 25% premium based on the SafeCharge purchase price at the end of business yesterday.

"The price premium Nuvei is offering reflects SafeCharge's leading position in the high-growth e-commerce market, the strength of its own technology platform, its diversified and stable customer base, and the significant experience in the payments industry of SafeCharge's payments team," SafeCharge chairman Roger Withers said in the filing.

SafeCharge CEO David Avgi said the agreement positions the combined companies well in their respective markets, noting that Nuvei is a strong competitor in the U.S. and Canadian payments business. Plano, Texas-based Nuvei was previously known as Pivotal Payments, but changed its name in late 2018. 

Nuvei chairman and CEO Philip Fayer said the deal will create a leading payments firm with significant scale.

"Our businesses are highly complementary from multiple perspectives, including geography, technology, key verticals and customers," he said. "We think the technology platform SafeCharge has developed is exceptional and will serve as the go--forward foundation from which we will continue to grow the combined businesses and provide best-in-class products and services to our customers and partners."

The deal is expected to be completed by the third quarter.