An Active Year Helps Boost Results for Canada’s Nuvei

The big Montreal-based processor Nuvei Corp. has had a busy year since its headline acquisition early in 2023 of Atlanta-based Paya Holdings Inc., and last month things got even busier.

The Montreal-based company confirmed it had created a “special committee” of independent directors to review “expressions of interest” regarding offers to take the company private, as well as other “strategic alternatives.”

One of those expressions apparently came from private-equity firm Advent international Corp., which made a bid to purchase Nuvei, according to the Wall Street Journal. Nuvei, which went public in September 2020, had by March seen its share price plunge 80% from a September 2021 high of $137.

Nuvei said no decision had been made whether to pursue a deal to take the company private or maintain the status quo.

The company, known until 2018 as Pivotal Payments, reported it processed $61.8 billion in payments volume in its December quarter, up 53% year-over-year. So-called organic growth—growth generated aside from recent acquisitions—registered 19%, to $47.9 billion. For all of 2023, the company processed $203 billion in volume, a 59% increase, with organic growth of 23% to $156.5 billion.

The processing results reflect the full integration of Paya, one of Nuvei’s largest deals, and its moves to penetrate legalized gaming markets. But its other headline tactics over the past 12 months have also played a role or are expected to pay off soon.

In one of its most recent moves, the company agreed to offer a Cash App integration with Block Inc. to enable Nuvei merchants to offer Cash App Pay for e-commerce transactions.  The move comes as Block seeks out more outlets for its popular payments app.

In January, Nuvei bulked up in e-commerce through an agreement with Adobe Commerce that involves support for more than 680 alternative payment methods. Nuvei said it would offer the application programming interface to make the integration possible.

But the $1.3-billion deal for Atlanta-based Paya ranks as Nuvei’s most ambitious move over the past year. The deal brought to Nuvei talent and other strengths in processing for health care, education, and local government markets, including utilities.

It also brought significant volume in automated clearing house payments, which accounted for 15% of Paya’s revenue. Revenue from business-to-business, government, and independent software vendor markets—sources influenced by the Paya deal—accounted for 18% of Nuvei’s December-quarter revenue.

The busy year brought Nuvei’s 2023 revenue to $1.19 billion, up 41% over 2022, with a reported 9% increase in organic revenue.