Indications have emerged that payments group Visa is paying $200m for a 20% stake in Interswitch ahead of a potential London IPO next year.
Sky News reported that Visa and Interswitch are in advanced talks about a transaction that could be announced as soon as this week.
“The deal will see Visa becoming a cornerstone investor in the Nigerian-headquartered company ahead of a prospective initial public offering in London during the first half of 2020,” Sky News reported.
Interswitch is one of the largest Africa-focused electronic payments and infrastructure companies, with point-of-sale terminals, online consumer payment platforms and its own card, Verve which has over 19 million cards active on its network.
This investment by Visa is expected to facilitate the formation of a strategic partnership to target the fast-growing African digital payment market.