Nordic Capital-backed Trustly announces plan to list

According to Mergermarket, the company is expecting a valuation of €7-9bn, and that Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Carnegie are advising Nordic Capital on the process.

Sources told the publication in February that Trustly had received interest from special purpose acquisition vehicles (SPAC) and that Nordic Capital had contemplated the alternative route.

The inbound interest came amid ESG concerns that gambling websites accounted for more than 50% of Trustly's revenues, sources told the publication.

The GP said in a statement that the IPO will lead to an increased awareness of digital Account-to-Account (A2A) payments and Trustly's global leadership position within that market.

The Stockholm-based company, which provides online payment services for merchants and online marketplaces, has been owned by the GP since March 2018 via its Nordic Capital Fund IX. The GP paid €700m for its 70% stake in the company, according to Reuters. 

BlackRock Private Equity Partners, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Neuberger Berman, Investment Corporation of Dubai and RSIC have since June last year been minority shareholders.

Founded in 2008, Trustly's platform provides instant pay-in and pay-out services based on bank transfers, without going through card networks. It employs around 500 staff in Europe, the US and Latin America. The company in 2020 generated net sales of €194m and had an EBITDA margin of 46%.

The wave of Nordic IPOs shows no signs of receding this year, often driven by new opportunities emerging from the pandemic, as reported by Unquote. According to Mergermarket data, there were 75 IPOs in the Nordic region in 2020, the second highest figure in the past decade after 2017. These public market listings were dominated by digitial consumer, software-as-a-service and e-commerce companies, all of which have shown resilience during the pandemic.

The trend has persisted so far in 2021, with PE-backed companies Cint, Desenio, Fractal Gaming Group and Pierce Group being listed in Q1. At least 50 other Nordic companies are eyeing a stock exchange float for 2021, including oat milk maker Oatly and caller ID and spam-blocking app Truecaller.

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