The online payments company Paysafe Group PLC has agreed to a takeover offer made by a consortium formed by the American multinational private equity firm The Blackstone Group L.P and the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, which is also known as the owner of Sky Betting & Gaming.
The acquisition bid for Paysafe Group is estimated to £3 billion. It comes as the latest one in a series of similar deals which have been recently carried out in the sector.
The brand offers pre-paid cashcards and web-based wallets, which are commonly used by online gambling customers. Recently, the company has expanded its presence in the US by purchasing Merchants’ Choice Payments Solutions in a $470-million takeover deal.
Today, Paysafe Group’s board revealed that it considered the terms of the takeover cash proposal, which was officially made in July 2017 and amounted to 590 pence a share. According to the company’s board, the financial terms of the acquisition offer were fair and reasonable, but Paysafe Group’s investors still hope for a higher offer to be made.
In order for the takeover deal to be finalised, shareholders need to approve it first. In addition, regulators in a number of countries, including the UK, the US, China, Switzerland Mauritius as well as the European Union, need to give their consent first in order for the deal to be carried out. As revealed by Blackstone-CVC consortium and Paysafe Group, in case that the investors and competent countries’ regulatory authorities give the proposed deal their blessing, the acquisition is expected to be completed at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017.
Lately, online payments companies have become a desired acquisition target, as more customers prefer to pay for their purchases by using various mobile devices, such as their phones for example. Currently, the US-based company Vantiv is having negotiations over the potential acquisition of UK-based Worldpay in a multi-billion deal estimated to £7.7 billion.
One of the private equity firms that are part of the consortium aimed at the acquisition of Paysafe Group is The Blackstone Group. The company has recently been focused on carrying out a series of acquisitions to help it expand its reach and boost its market presence. The latest takeover of the company was carried out only last week. On July 24th, the company announced the acquisition of Clarion Events, which is known as one of the largest independent events organisers on a global scale.
Also, at the beginning of July, the private equity firm shared that it entered into a definitive takeover agreement with International Market Centers. Earlier this year, Blackstone agreed to acquire interest in a couple of companies.
On the other hand, Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners is not only one of the leading private equity firms in the world, but the owner of the British gambling company Sky Betting & Gaming. So, considering the interest that more and more customers demonstrate towards online payments and the constantly increasing popularity of online gaming on a global scale, the acquisition of Paysafe Group makes perfect sense.
- Author
Olivia Cole
