Payments Startup Payoneer in Merger Talks With SPAC

(Bloomberg) -- Payoneer Inc., an online payments specialist, is in talks to go public through a merger with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp., a blank-check firm, according to people with knowledge of the matter. FTAC rose as much as 29% on the news.

The special purpose acquisition company has begun talks to raise new equity to support a transaction that’s slated to value the combined entity at more than $2.5 billion, said one of the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. As a deal isn’t finalized, it’s possible terms change or talks fall apart.

Representatives for New York-based Payoneer and FTAC declined to comment.

FTAC was up 28% to $13.45 at 3:33 p.m. in New York, giving the company a market value of about $1.3 billion.

Founded in 2005, Payoneer -- which has said it’s profitable -- is backed by investors including Wellington Management Co., TCV, Greylock Partners, Ping An and Viola Ventures. The company, founded in Israel by Yuval Tal and now led by Chief Executive Officer Scott Galit, operates in more than 200 countries and territories. It provides services including cross-border payments for customers including Airbnb Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Google and Walmart Inc. its website shows.

FTAC, led by Chairman Betsy Cohen and Chief Executive Officer Ryan Gilbert, raised roughly $755 million in an August initial public offering for the purpose of acquiring or merging with a technology or financial services technology-focused company.

Cohen is also chairman of blank-check firms FinTech Acquisition Corp. IV, which last month agreed to combine with Perella Weinberg Partners, and FinTech Acquisition Corp. V. She’s also chairman of FTAC Athena Acquisition Corp. which this week filed paperwork ahead of a targeted $220 million IPO and was the chairman of FinTech Acquisition Corp. III when it merged with payments company Paya Holdings Inc.

(Updates share price in fourth paragraph)