Paysafe to Merge with Foley Trasimene
Payments giant Paysafe Group Holdings has agreed a merger deal with special purpose acquisition company Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corporation.
The combined entity will operate as Paysafe and plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as ‘PSFE’ at a value of $9bn (£6.8bn/€7.4bn).
The merger remains subject to approval by Foley Trasimene stockholders, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and other customary closing conditions. If the deal does get the greenlight, it is scheduled to close in the first half of next year.
The acquisition will see Foley Trasimene acquire the majority shareholdings in Paysafe from its current backers, US private equity funds Blackstone Group and CVC Capital.
In 2017, Blackstone and CVC acquired Paysafe for £3.3bn, delisting the company from the London Stock Exchange at that time.
Blackstone and CVC said that Paysafe had reached its maximum potential under their shared ownership, having processed $100bn in transactions under their tenure.
Foley Trasimene was founded by finance and sports entrepreneur Bill Foley, who is chairman of Fidelity National Financial and Black Knight Financial Services. He is vice chairman of Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) – the company behind WorldPay.
He is also the lead investor in Black Knight Sports & Entertainment, a consortium that secured access to the National Hockey League in 2017 with a new team, the Vegas Golden Knights.
Foley was linked to the NFL team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, at one point, but the team ended up being bought by Pakistani-born American billionaire businessman and sports tycoon Shahid Rafiq Khan.
Commenting on the acquisition of Paysafe Foley said: “Upon the formation and initial listing of Foley Trasimene, our team initiated a diligent and thorough search process to source an appropriate partner, with the goal to announce a partnership prior to year-end. Thanks to the hard work of our team, we have reached this milestone with Paysafe as our ideal partner.”
CEO of Paysafe Philip McHugh added: “Today, more than ever, businesses and consumers need to connect and seamlessly transact via digital commerce. This is what Paysafe does best through our industry-leading payment processing, digital wallet, and online cash solutions. This transaction will allow us to accelerate our growth opportunities across the business, particularly in fast growth sectors such as igaming where we are the payments partner of choice.”
Chairman of the Paysafe Board of Directors, Stuart C. Harvey Jr, hinted at the future growth trajectory of the payment provider. “This transaction provides Paysafe with even greater opportunity to strategically expand its innovative payment solutions, execute accretive M&A, and accelerate its growth initiatives. We look forward to seeing Paysafe’s continued success and growth as a public company,” he said.
