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Nexi to float on Italian stock exchange in April

Alessia Argentieri
19 March 2019

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Private-equity-backed Nexi, an Italian company specialising in payment technology, has filed an application for its initial public offering on the Milan stock exchange, which is expected to be launched in April.

According to press reports, the IPO will comprise around 35-40% of the company's share capital and will give Nexi an enterprise value of approximately €7bn, including €2.5bn in debt.

The company is 93% owned by Mercury UK Holdco, which is controlled by private equity firms Bain Capital, Advent International and Clessidra Capital, while the remaining stake is held by a pool of banks, including Banco BPM, Credito Valtellinese and Banca Popolare di Sondrio.

The listing will consist of a private placement reserved for qualified investors in Italy and institutional investors abroad, and will include existing shares as well as new shares issued via a capital increase of €600-700m. A greenshoe option is also expected to be provided in connection with the offering.

Nexi plans to use the proceeds deriving from the capital increase mainly to reduce its debt, which is expected to decrease to between 3.0-3.5x the company's EBITDA by the end of 2019.

The payment technology specialist is also finalising a new loan agreement, conditional upon completion of the placement, in order to refinance part of its outstanding debt on better terms.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Banca IMI (part of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group), Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs International and Mediobanca - Banca di Credito Finanziario will act as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners, while Banca Akros, Barclays Bank, Citigroup Global Markets, HSBC, MPS Capital Services, UBI Banca, UBS Investment Bank and UniCredit Corporate & Investment Banking will act as joint bookrunners. In addition, Banca IMI and Banca Akros will also act as sponsors for the placement, while Evercore will advise Nexi on the offering.

Nexi specialises in digital payment services and operates in three main areas: merchant and point-of-sale terminal services; cards and digital payments; and corporate banking.

Nexi was established in 2017 by combining several businesses with Istituto Centrale delle Banche Popolari Italiane, which the three private equity firms acquired in June 2015 in a deal valued at €2.15bn.

The company has recently sold its subsidiary Oasi to FSI's fintech business Cedacri for €151m, and contact centre specialist PayCare to Carlyle-backed Comdata. Nexi generated EBITDA of €424m from revenues of €931m in 2018.