Paysafe Group Ltd (Paysafe) is an online payments firm that is backed by CVC Capital Partners and Blackstone Group Inc. It has announced that it will be going public through a reverse merger with Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp, a firm led by billionaire William P. Foley II. Through the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), it aims to raise $2 billion in a private placement to contribute funds for the transaction valuing the company at about $9 billion when complete. The cash component will be funded by $150 million of Foley's money held in trust.

Bill Foley will become chairman of the merged company's board with the current Paysafe CEO, Philip McHugh, expected to continue in his role. Foley has stated that he wants to position Paysafe as a leading global payments platform and that the deal will accelerate the operational transformation required to achieve that aim.

Biggest Announced Reverse Merger

The Paysafe reverse merger is one of the biggest announced this year and has attracted investors including Third Point LLC, Fidelity National Title Insurance Co, Suvretta Capital Management and Hedospophia among others that will participate in the private placement. The current Paysafe shareholders (consisting of its private equity backers and management) will continue to be the largest shareholders in the merged company.

What Is Paysafe

Paysafe, based in London, offers payment processing services that allow companies to accept payments in a range of ways including cash, credit cards and direct debits online as well as offering prepaid cards and digital wallets. It is unique in that it functions both as a consumer and merchant network whose purpose is to enable businesses and consumers around the globe to perform seamless payment transactions and currently processes some $100 billion annually. It works with payment solution brands including Paysafecard, Income Access, Skrill and Neteller. The company was bought in 2017 by Blackstone Group and CVC Capital Partners in a deal that was worth around $4 billion at the time.

Foley has said that Paysafe will focus on high-growth markets such as ecommerce and gaming and that these will generate strong revenue growth and expanded profit margins in the future and noted that Paysafe was the payments processor of choice for the fast-growing iGaming market.

William P. Foley, II is considered one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the specialty finance industries and made his name through a series of acquisitions of small title insurance companies in the 1980s. In the course of 20 years and over 80 acquisitions he became the largest title insurer in the country through his Fidelity National Title Insurance Company that today controls 30% of the title insurance market and is valued at over $7 billion. He ascribes his success to one overarching principle: staying focused on the customer.

Bill Foley to take Blackstone's Paysafe public in $9 billion SPAC deal