©Reuters.
By Anirban Sen and Mrinmay Dey
(Reuters) – Private equity firm Advent International is in advanced talks to buy Nuvei, a Canadian payments technology company that has received financial backing from actor Ryan Reynolds, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.
The deal could be announced soon, said the source, who asked not to be named because the negotiations are confidential.
However, talks could still fail, the source added. The source did not disclose the proposed terms of the deal.
The acquisition of Nuvei by Advent, which has a market capitalization of more than $3 billion, would make it one of the sizable take-private deals at a time when private equity deals have slowed.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Advent’s talks with Nuvei on Saturday.
Advent declined to comment and Nuvei did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The acquisition deal, if successfully completed, would mark the second deal in the past 12 months for a company backed by Canadian-American Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds.
Last year in March, T-Mobile purchased Ka’ena Corp, owner of the Deadpool actor’s budget wireless provider, Mint Mobile. The deal was valued at about $1.35 billion.
Both Toronto-listed and Nasdaq-listed Nuvei shares have fallen since the company acquired Paya Holdings for $1.3 billion last year. In April last year, short seller Spruce Point Capital Management LLC disclosed a short position in Nuvei, claiming that the acquisition was slowing its business because Paya had lost market share before the acquisition.
Two months later, Spruce Point said it would no longer hold a short position after Nuvei’s stock price fell to its target level.
Nuvei, which provides technology services to help businesses process transactions, went public in September 2020 and raised $700 million, becoming at the time the largest technology company ever offered on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
According to its website, it processes payments for General Motors (NYSE:), Microsoft (NASDAQ:), Shein and others and operates in 200 markets.
Deals in the financial services sector have seen an increase in recent months. In February, Capital One agreed to acquire Discover Financial in a deal valued at $35.3 billion.
Shift4, a payments processor with a market value of more than $6 billion, is currently in talks to be acquired by potential buyers including Fiserv (NYSE:), Reuters reported last month.
Payment processors like Shift4 and Nuvei thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic as customers turned to digital payment methods, but some have since struggled to maintain growth as competition increased and industry took off. ‘inflation.
Toronto-listed shares of Nuvei have fallen far from an all-time high of C$170 ($125.54) in 2021. On Friday, the company’s shares closed at just over C$29 while New York-listed shares have closed at $21.76.
($1 = 1.3541 Canadian dollars)