Trustly postpones €9bn IPO amid regulator concerns

Swedish payments firm Trustly announced it has postponed its IPO plans following comments by the country’s financial supervisory authority about the company’s due diligence process on its end customers.

Trustly said on April 12 it intended to list its shares on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange in a deal that would have seen the company valued at up to €9 billion.

The initial stock float plan was to raise 8 billion kronor ($934 million).

However, since then, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (SFSA) has said the company should perform customer due diligence on some consumers using Trustly’s payment initiation service to make payments to merchants.

News of the delayed IPO came as Trustly reported a 46% jump in net revenue to 632 million Swedish crowns ($74.86 million) in the first quarter, boosted by its performance in North America.

Trustly chairman Johan Tjärnberg said: “Trustly delivered a new record performance in the first quarter with accelerated growth.

“The board of directors and the owners remain convinced that a listing would be beneficial for Trustly and our ambition to list the company remains.

“However, we have a responsibility to all stakeholders to bring clarity and resolve any outstanding questions from the SFSA’s preliminary assessment.

“Therefore, the board of directors has decided not to pursue the plan for a listing in the second quarter.

“There is today no timeplan set for when the IPO will be completed.

“Our focus remains on building the leading account-to-account payments network worldwide.

“We will now engage in a constructive dialogue with the SFSA, while continuing to drive profitable growth for Trustly going forward.”