Israeli fintech company Payoneer is being acquired by Canadian payments firm Nuvei in an all-cash transaction valued at $2.75 billion.
The deal valued Payoneer at a 21% premium to its Nasdaq closing price on Friday, Israeli business news site Calcalist reported on Monday.
The company ended last week with a market capitalization of approximately $2.26 billion. Nuvei has previously expanded its presence in Israel through acquisitions including cryptocurrency payments company Simplex and payments processor SafeCharge, founded by Israeli entrepreneur Teddy Sagi.
Payoneer operates a global payments platform serving businesses, freelancers, e-commerce merchants and service providers, facilitating cross-border transactions in markets worldwide.
Reuters reported last week that Payoneer was in talks to be acquired by a Canadian company for about $2.7 billion. Following the report, Payoneer shares rose sharply, bringing the company’s market value closer to the final purchase price.
According to Calcalist, the transaction comes five years after Payoneer entered the public markets through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger in June 2021 at a valuation of $3.3 billion.
The $2.75 billion sale price represents a discount of about 17% to that valuation, meaning the company’s tenure as a publicly traded firm did not generate a positive return relative to its listing valuation.
