Kazakh fintech giant Kaspi.kz makes US IPO filing public (updated)
28/12/2023 17:12
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Dec 28 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan-based fintech heavyweight
Kaspi.kz KSPIq.L disclosed a surge in profits and revenue for
its most recent quarter on Thursday, when it took another step
towards a U.S. listing by making its IPO paperwork public.
The company commands a valuation of nearly $19 billion on
the London Stock Exchange, where its global depositary receipts
are already listed.
Kaspi.kz joins several richly valued firms heading
towards a U.S. listing in 2024. Social media giant Reddit, cloud
security company Rubrik and software startup ServiceTitan are
also expected to go public next year.
"With a U.S. listing, we believe Kaspi.kz can reach a
larger and more diverse investor base that will enjoy being with
us for the next stage of our development," co-founder and CEO
Mikheil Lomtadze wrote in a letter attached to the IPO
prospectus.
Net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 was
232.49 billion Kazakh tenge ($512 million), up 40% from last
year. In the same period, revenue grew nearly 51% to 508.44
billion Kazakh tenge.
The company's payments, marketplace and fintech
solutions cater to both consumers and merchants. Besides
e-commerce purchases, its app also lets customers access buy
now, pay later (BNPL) debt, renew their driving licenses and
register their businesses.
Kaspi.kz did not disclose the number of shares it
expects to sell in the IPO, but said its offer price would be
similar to the trading price of its LSE-listed depositary
receipts.
It has applied to list its American Depositary Shares
(ADS) on the Nasdaq, the bourse where some of the biggest U.S.
technology firms are traded.
Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Citigroup are the lead
underwriters for the IPO.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh
Kuber)
((Niket.Nishant@thomsonreuters.com;))