Nuvei to buy Payoneer for $2.75b in cross-border payments deal

Canadian payments-technology firm Nuvei has agreed to acquire Payoneer, the cross-border payments company that many Bangladeshi freelancers and IT-service exporters rely on to get paid, in an all-cash deal worth about $2.75 billion, the two companies said on Monday.

Under the agreement, Nuvei will pay $7.40 a share for Payoneer Global, which is listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker PAYO. On completion, Payoneer would become a wholly owned Nuvei subsidiary and leave the stock market.

The deal is expected to close in mid-2027, subject to approval by Payoneer's shareholders and by regulators, the companies said. It has been reported by Reuters and other outlets and is corroborated by Payoneer's filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Nuvei is itself privately held. The US private-equity firm Advent International took it private in November 2024 in a deal that valued Nuvei at about $6.3 billion, or $34.00 a share. The Payoneer purchase is Nuvei's first major acquisition since it left the public market.

The companies framed the deal as a way to combine Nuvei's payment-acceptance technology with Payoneer's cross-border payouts, multi-currency accounts and banking network. The merged firm would serve more than 2.4 million customers, process over $500 billion in annual payment volume and generate about $3 billion in yearly revenue, they said, adding that it would focus on businesses "particularly in emerging markets".

Why the deal matters in Bangladesh

Payoneer is one of the main ways Bangladeshi freelancers and IT-enabled service exporters receive money from global platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork, both of which use it for payouts.

Since 10 February 2022, an instant-payout partnership has allowed Bangladeshi freelancers to move their Payoneer earnings into a bKash mobile wallet, without paperwork, through the bKash app. A transfer can range from Tk1,000 to Tk250,000.

BRAC Bank acts as the foreign-currency-management and settlement bank for that channel, with incoming funds routed through it, via Bangladesh Bank (BB), before reaching a recipient's bKash account. The arrangement was made possible by a February 2021 rule change in which Bangladesh Bank allowed mobile financial service (MFS) providers, not only banks, to handle local freelancers' remittance.

At present, according to bKash, Payoneer charges a 3% conversion fee plus $1 per transaction on withdrawals to bKash.

What is not yet clear

What the change of ownership means for Bangladeshi users is, so far, an open question. Neither company has commented on the Bangladesh market, and the deal materials do not mention the country.

It is not yet known whether the new ownership will affect the fees Bangladeshi payees pay, the bKash and BRAC Bank arrangement, or whether any Bangladesh Bank approval applies to the change of control. There has been no reported reaction yet from the local freelancing community or industry bodies.

For now, the deal is a global corporate transaction whose subject happens to be a payment rail of real importance to Bangladesh, rather than a confirmed change for the people who use it. Because the agreement was announced only on Monday and is not due to close until mid-2027, any effect on Bangladeshi freelancers remains to be seen.