London-based online payments company Paysafe is set to begin trading on U.S. public markets after merging with blank-check company Foley Trasimene Acquisition II Corp, billionaire business and sports executive Bill Foley told CNBC Monday.
Foley, who set up the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, announced in December that it was targeting Paysafe in a deal valuing the firm at about $9 billion, including debt.
“Paysafe … is ubiquitous. It’s just everywhere in terms of the gaming world and digital wallets, e-cash solutions,” he said in a “Mad Money” interview. “We’ll actually go public tomorrow as we start trading on the New York Stock Exchange.”
Foley is the chairman of Fidelity National Financial and the majority owner of the Vegas Golden Knights.
Paysafe, which includes brands such as Income Access, Paysafecard, Skrill and Neteller, is backed by Blackstone and CVC. Companies use Paysafe products to handle credit card, cash and direct-debit transactions digitally. Prepaid cards and digital wallets are other offerings.
Foley, whose SPAC in August raised $1.47 billion, said the company is making plans to penetrate the domestic gaming market, including brick-and-mortar businesses and helping casinos go cashless. Paysafe’s business is primarily done internationally, he said.
The North American gaming market also presents an opportunity as the company hopes to become the “preeminent i-gaming leader” on the continent.
“I’m excited about Paysafe. It’s really a great company,” Foley said. “We’re pretty far along with a couple of different ideas that we’ve been working on concurrently with taking Paysafe public.”
Shares of Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II moved 5.77% higher Monday to $15.39, giving it a valuation of roughly $2.8 billion at the close.
