SoftBank-backed African payments giant sprints toward U.S. listing! Opay (OPAY.US) seeks to raise $336 million, valuation may exceed $4 billion.

Opay Ltd., a payment platform focused on the Nigerian market, plans to raise up to $336 million through an initial public offering (IPO). According to a filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, Opay plans to offer 16 million American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) at a price of $19 to $21 per share. Each ADR represents 10 ordinary shares of Opay. Based on the midpoint of the offering price range and the number of outstanding ordinary shares listed in the filing, Opay's market capitalization could exceed $4 billion. The company expects its ADRs to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "OPAY." The filing shows that investors including Redwheel, Coronation Investment Management International Pty, and Sundt AS have agreed to subscribe to up to $270 million in ADRs in aggregate at the IPO offering price. Meanwhile, the filing shows that Standard Bank Group Ltd. has agreed to purchase Opay ordinary shares through a private placement. The consideration for these shares will be determined according to a formula, with the amount being the lower of: $200 million, or an amount calculated based on potential metrics including Opay's percentage of issued shares following completion of the offering and Standard Bank's regulatory capital ratio. Opay is gradually becoming one of Africa's most valuable fintech companies and is also the dominant player in Nigeria's rapidly growing digital payments sector. In 2021, Opay raised $400 million at a valuation of $2 billion, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from HSG (formerly Sequoia Capital China) and Long-Z Capital, the venture capital arm of Chinese food delivery giant Meituan. According to the filing, for the six months ended June 30, Opay achieved net profit of $61 million on revenue of $467.1 million, compared with a net loss of $5.9 million on revenue of $197.5 million in the same period a year earlier. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, has become fertile ground for fintech unicorns such as Flutterwave, Moniepoint, and Interswitch. Growing demand for mobile financial services also drove market attention to Airtel Africa Plc's listing on the London Stock Exchange in October, which raised approximately 529 million pounds (about $708 million) for some of its backers. Opay's IPO will provide a valuation benchmark for Africa's venture capital-backed technology sector, which has been facing financing difficulties and sluggish deal activity since the post-pandemic slowdown in private capital markets.