Santander-backed Ebury has reportedly appointed Goldman Sachs to lead a forthcoming £2 billion IPO in London.
Rumours of an IPO for the UK cross-border payments platform have been swirling since March. First reported by the FT, the appointment of Goldman Sachs firms up the prospect of a float for the firm with a Q1 2025 timeline pencilled in.
Founded in 2009, Ebury provides more than 50,000 clients with services such as international payments, collections, risk management and financing.
In 2019, Santander agreed to pay £350 million to acquire a 50.1% majority stake in the company, which has since been rolled into the Spanish bank's PagoNxt payments platform.
Companies House filings show Ebury posted revenue of £204m in the 12 months to 30 April 2023 on a transactions volume of £26bn.
A listing on the London Stock Exchange will be a rare win for the UK market, which has struggled to attract tech talent in the face of competition from US venues. The FCA this month announced plans to overhaul listings rules, setting out a simplified regime with a single category and streamlined eligibility for those companies seeking to list their shares in the UK.
The last big payments firm to list in the UK was CAB Payments last year. It is currently trading 64 per cent below its initial share price.