U.S. payments technology firm Nuvei Corp said on Wednesday that it would buy SafeCharge International Group Ltd – controlled by Israeli businessman Teddy Sagi – in an all-cash deal valued at $889 million to expand in the fast-growing electronic payments industry.
Sagi will receive $570 million for his stake in the company.
SafeCharge has 400 employees. Its research and development and technical support teams are based in Azrieli Sarona tower in Tel Aviv. The company also has offices in the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Austria, the Netherlands, Singapore, Cyprus, Hong Kong, China and the United States.
The companies said SafeCharge shareholders would receive $5.55 in cash for each share held, representing a 25% premium to the stock's Tuesday closing price.
The deal comes as the industry is going through an aggressive consolidation and follows a $35 billion deal by U.S. firm FIS to buy Worldpay earlier this year.
Shares of SafeCharge rose as much as 24% to 435 pence ($5.51), closer to the 436 pence ($5.52) pence offered by Nuvei, before paring some of the gains.
Previously known as Pivotal Payments, the Plano, Texas-based company renamed itself to Nuvei late last year.
The deal also comes on the heels of market debut of payments peers Britain's Network International, Italy's Nexi and UAE's Finablr.
Credit Suisse and Shore Capital are acting as financial advisers for Nuvei and SafeCharge, respectively.
