Revolut is reportedly preparing a share sale that would value it at $45 billion.
The British FinTech is close to a deal that would see it sell roughly $500 million in employee-owned shares, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday (July 23), citing sources familiar with the matter.
The report noted that the sale is an indicator of rising confidence in the FinTech space.
Revolut is already the world’s second most-valuable FinTech startup next to Stripe, and this sale would increase its valuation by more than a third.
The Financial Times (FT) had reported whispers of a share sale last month. Separate reports said CEO Nikolay Storonsky was selling a “small portion” of his stake in the company as part of that share sale.
When reached by PYMNTS, Revolut declined to comment.
The sale, if completed, could be announced in the coming days and would set the stage for an initial public offering (IPO), the WSJ report said.
Assuming Revolut is ready to go public, it’s not a given that the company will do so in its home country, as chairman Martin Gilbert said earlier this month that he wasn’t ready to commit to a London IPO, even as he praised pending changes to the rules for listing on the U.K. market.
“All the moves [regulators] are making are good, they’re allowing founder-led companies like Revolut to list here rather than just have no choice,” Gilbert said. “But again let’s see how it all pans out, the proof will definitely be what happens in the future.”
He added that Revolut was at least a year away from going public, with the company planning to “keep an open mind” on where its listing would happen.
These comments marked a change from the views put forth by Storonsky, who had ruled out an IPO in London. Revolut’s U.K. CEO, Francesca Carlesi, had indicated a London listing was still possible earlier this year.
“The U.K. is our home and is also one where a lot of our investors come from,” Carlesi said. “We know that companies are always better off to list where their biggest market is.”
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