US firm eyes takeover of London-listed CAB Payments

Fintech group CAB Payments could delist from the London Stock Exchange as it weighs up a potential takeover proposal from US payments firm StoneX.

CAB Payments said it received a non-binding proposal from the Nasdaq-listed firm at a price of £1.45 per share, valuing it at £368.5m.

According to CAB Payments, the proposal came following a series of approaches from StoneX starting in July, when it initially proposed a takeover pricing CAB shares at £1.15.

The initial takeover proposal was rejected by the CAB Payments board, which has agreed to review the revised proposal.

StoneX has until 7 November to make a firm offer or announce it does not intend to go further. The proposal does not represent, nor does it guarantee an official offer will be made.

CAB Payments listed in London last year at a valuation of £851m in an initial public offering (IPO) that was seen as a much-needed boost for the exchange that had faced an otherwise glacial year for tech listings.

The company, which provides the infrastructure for business-to-business money transfers, raised around £335m from its IPO in July 2023.

Shares in the company plummeted by more than 70% in October 2023, three months after its IPO, following lowered revenue guidance for the year.

The company’s CEO Bhairav Trivedi stepped down less than a year after its IPO, announcing his resignation in February 2024. The following month, CAB Payments posted a 14% drop in pre-tax annual profits.

In April, CAB Payments expanded into Europe after securing a payment service provider licence from the Dutch financial authorities, allowing it to operate across the European Economic Area.

Neeraj Kapur was confirmed as the chief executive of the company in June.

Founded in 1924, StoneX is an American financial services company. In 2024, it was ranked 223^rd in the Fortune 500 list.