Paysafe gets acquisition proposal from funds managed by Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners
Under the terms of the possible offer, the ordinary shareholders of Paysafe would receive 590 pence in cash per ordinary share in Paysafe.
Payment solutions provider Paysafe Group Plc (LON:PAYS) has confirmed that it had gotten an acquisition bid from funds managed by Blackstone and funds managed by CVC Capital Partners (jointly, the Consortium).
In a filing with the London Stock Exchange, Paysafe says it has received a preliminary, conditional proposal for a possible all cash offer for its entire issued and to be issued share capital by a newly incorporated company jointly owned by funds advised by the Consortium members or their respective affiliates.
Under the terms of the Possible Offer, the ordinary shareholders of Paysafe would receive 590 pence in cash per ordinary share in Paysafe. This represent a premium of approximately 34% to the volume weighted average price for the six month period ended June 30, 2017, the day prior to broad sector consolidation speculation.
Paysafe’s largest shareholder, Old Mutual Global Investors (UK) Limited, has indicated its support for the Possible Offer, in respect of 50,000,000 of the company’s ordinary shares – these equal approximately 10.3% of its current issued share capital.
The Consortium has said that its financing requirements will be funded in part with the proceeds of a disposal of any non-core business, such as the Asia Gateway business. Entry into an agreement by the Consortium to sell the Asia Gateway business to a third party buyer is a non-waivable pre-condition which must be satisfied before the making of any firm offer by the Consortium. The key terms have already been agreed with a third party buyer, Paysafe said in today’s announcement.
There can be no certainty that an offer will be made, even if the Pre-Condition is satisfied.
Separately, also today, Paysafe made another announcement concerning M&A. The company has agreed to acquire substantially all the assets of Delta Card Services Inc., the holding company for Merchants’ Choice Payment Solutions (MCPS), a Texas-based payment processor. The consideration of $470 million, which is payable in cash, will be funded by a $380 million Incremental Loan Facility drawn under the existing Senior Facility Agreement, underwritten by BMO Capital Markets, Deutsche Bank and other syndicate banks, plus $90 million from existing cash funds.
