Canada’s Nuvei to buy Payoneer for $2.75 billion in cross-border payments push

Nuvei, a Canadian payments firm taken private by Advent International in 2024, has agreed to acquire Payoneer (PAYO) for $2.75 billion, roughly 2.5x Payoneer's trailing revenue of $1.1B. Payoneer's 7% net margin and 7.7% revenue growth are modest but its cross-border SMB and marketplace payments infrastructure is the strategic asset Nuvei is paying for.

With a deal price now public, PAYO trades as a merger-arb situation: the spread between current price and $2.75B implied per share (~$9.70 based on ~283M diluted shares) is the immediate watch. The risk factors to monitor are regulatory clearance in multiple jurisdictions, any topping bid from a larger payments player, and whether PAYO's growth trajectory accelerates enough to justify the multiple paid.