OPay had its shares priced at $19 each and was set to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange last Friday. Then, a day later, the company pulled the plug. The Nigeria-focused payments giant shelved its planned $304 million US IPO after a regulatory inquiry in an undisclosed foreign jurisdiction forced it to walk away from the listing, leaving a $4 billion valuation hanging in the air.
The company withdrew the offering after consulting its underwriters, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Standard Bank. In a statement, OPay said the inquiry involves a jurisdiction unrelated to its core business, but has not named the regulator or explained what is under investigation. So for now, the public knows very little beyond the fact that something, somewhere, gave investors pause.
The stakes here are real. OPay counts over 50 million users and sits among the largest payments companies in Nigeria. A successful listing would have opened the door for US investors to buy into one of Africa's biggest fintech businesses. That door is now closed, at least for the moment.
Elsewhere, November brought better news for 15 young women in Northern Nigeria. Financial Services Innovators, with support from the Nigerian Communications Commission, selected them for five-week software testing internships following an eight-week training programme that attracted 590 applications. Ninety-five women completed the programme, covering everything from test-case design to API testing, and the top 15 will now gain hands-on industry experience with GoAssurify.
OPay has not said whether it plans to revive the IPO once the inquiry is resolved. Watch this space.
Originally published by TechCabal.