The newly-merged Canadian online payment solutions company will keep open and expand its Tel Aviv development center.
Canadian payment solutions company Nuvei has completed the $889 million cash acquisition of Israeli online payment solutions company SafeCharge, controlled by Teddy Sagi. Following completion of the deal, SafeCharge's shares will be delisted today from trading on the London Stock Exchange's AIM secondary market.
The Israeli development center will continue to operate and is even expected to grow.
SafeCharge was founded in 2007 by CEO David Avgi and businessman Teddy Sagi, and held its IPO on AIM in April 2014. The share price at which the company was sold reflects a premium of about 200% including dividends, on the price at which its IPO was held. Since the IPO, SafeCharge has distributed dividends to investors of more than $100 million, so that the value which has been created is about $1 billion - a figure that makes it one of the most successful fintech companies that has been grown in Israel.
Nuvei is a private company specializing in providing payment solutions mainly to customers in the US and Canada. The company, which is based in Montreal, has about 400 employees in the US and Canada. The acquisition will create a leading global payment solutions provider that can serve customers of all sizes around the world. Montreal, Quebec will be the headquarters of the merged company.
Nuvei has traditionally operated in the US and Canada while focusing on the small to medium-size businesses market. For its part, SafeCharge has developed a major presence in European markets, Asia and Latin America by specializing in clearing technologies , payments and risk management. And most of SafeCharge's customers are companies that operate online such as electronic commerce companies. SafeCharge holds licenses as a financial payments institution in the UK and the EU. The company has about 400 employees. SafeCharge also has an advanced development center in the Azrieli Sarona tower in Tel Aviv. The other employees are based in Bulgaria, the UK, Austria, the Netherlands, Singapore, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Mexico and the US. The Israeli company's customers include Gett, El Al, Kiwi, Just Eat, and World Duty Free.
Nuvei Chairman and CEO Philip Fayer said, "This marks the dawn of a new, exciting journey for Nuvei. Thanks to SafeCharge's technology platform, we've enhanced our ability to deliver powerful payment solutions to our technology partners, merchants and resellers. With offices across 14 countries and unparalleled fintech expertise, we've transformed our combined organization into a diversified, global payments leader with massive scale and reach."
SafeCharge CEO David Avgi added, "We are jointly creating an international payment giant with an unrivalled talent pool and technology stack. We are thrilled to be part of a bigger entity to further the adoption of the most innovative payments technology globally. The move will also provide our employees with more long-term career opportunities and be part of a global company, which we can all be very proud of."