Visa, US-based multinational payments group, is planning to pay $200million for a 20 per cent stake in Interswitch ahead of a potential London Initial Public Offer (IPO) next year.
Sky News reported that the deal will see the African payments group, becoming the continent’s latest technology ‘unicorn’.
Strong indications emerged that Visa and Interswitch are in advanced talks about a transaction that could be announced 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.
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.
The latter is the biggest domestic debit card scheme in Africa, with more than 19 million cards active on its network.
An investment by Visa according to stakeholders will facilitate the formation of a strategic partnership to target the fast-growing African digital payment market.
It will come months after its global rival, Mastercard, invested $300million in Dubai-based Network International ahead of its stock market debut in London.
Network International, which is the largest payment processor in Africa and the Middle East, has since seen its shares perform strongly, bucking the trend of a stagnant environment for London IPOs.