
Trade Finance In Wartime
The huge drop-off in trade involving Russia and Ukraine has hit trade finance hard.
Europe's dormant IPO markets see some action.
The dormant market for European initial public offerings (IPOs) burst to life in April with a pair of payment processors—Italy’s Nexi and Dubai-based Network International—listing in Milan and London, respectively. The demand for payment processing has grown as consumers switch to digital forms of payment.
Nexi raised $2.3 billion in its listing, which was Europe’s largest IPO so far this year. A mixture of existing and new shares was sold in the offering, which valued Nexi at $8.25 billion. Global coordinators of the IPO included Bank of America, Credit Suisse, Banca IMI, Goldman Sachs, and Mediobanca.
Nexi, Italy’s largest payment-processing firm, has a 60% market share in card issuing and it partners with about 150 Italian banks.
Network International raised $1.4 billion in its IPO, which enabled Emirates NBD, Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic to reduce their stakes in the company. The listing, which valued Network International at about $3 billion, was the first international listing on the London Stock Exchange so far this year. Another UAE-based payment company, Finablr, said it also was planning a London listing to raise $200 million from the sale of new stock, with some existing shares also to be offered.