Shift4 Payments Registers For IPO

Shift4 Payments has filed paperwork to go public.

“The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. The initial public offering (IPO) is expected to commence after the [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions. There is no assurance that the initial public offering will be completed,” the company said Tuesday (Dec. 3) in a press release.

One of the nation’s biggest independent sales organizations, the Allentown, Pa.-based Shift4 Payments is the latest ISO to go public, including Atlanta’s EVO Payments, which went public in May 2018. That company’s shares opened at $20.05, which was about 25 percent higher than the company’s IPO price of $16.

“The offering of 14 million Class A shares by EVO Payments and selling stockholders raised $224 million, after being priced at the upper-end of its projected range,” Reuters said at the time, adding that the company’s market valuation stood at $1.54 billion.

Shift4 Payments, which has offices in Europe and the United States, first launched as United Bank Card Inc., offering free point-of-sale terminals to merchants using its services. In 2012, it changed its name to Harbortouch, taking the brand of its POS system. And in 2017, it established a parent company called Lighthouse Network, which became Shift4 last year after the company acquired Shift4 Corp.

As reported by Digital Transactions News, Shift4 Payments processes more than 3.7 billion transactions annually for more than 225,000 merchants, and annual payment volume stands at more than $200 billion. Its clients include Arby’s, Blimpie, Carrabba’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Outback Steakhouse and it also works with more than 300 software companies.

“The group has had a fantastic run,” Gary Prestopino, managing director at Chicago-based Barrington Research, told Digital Transactions News. “Valuations in the [processor] market are very generous right now. It’s an advantageous time to take a company public.”