Stripe and Advent bid $53 billion in cash for PayPal

Stripe and Advent International have made an unsolicited joint offer to buy PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) for $60.50 a share in cash, valuing the payments company at more than $53 billion, according to multiple reports citing people familiar with the matter.

The proposal is about a 28% premium to PayPal's closing price on Tuesday and is backed by roughly $50 billion in committed bank financing. Stripe and Advent would each own 50% of PayPal and keep the company intact rather than split up assets such as Venmo, Braintree or the core checkout business, the reports said.

The approach was submitted earlier this month after an initial contact in early April. Stripe and Advent have not received a response from PayPal and want to advance discussions in the coming weeks. There is no certainty the proposal will result in a transaction.

PayPal, Stripe and Advent either declined to comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment in the published reports.

At about $50 billion, the committed bank backing shows the bidders have assembled debt support for one of the largest potential buyouts in the payments sector in years. The reports did not disclose the financing mix, participating banks or other terms such as pricing, maturities or any equity contribution beyond the planned joint ownership.

The equal-ownership structure points to an operating plan rather than a breakup. PayPal still controls several large consumer and merchant businesses, including branded checkout, Venmo and Braintree, even as investors have questioned its growth and competitive position.

PayPal shares rose sharply in premarket trading after the reports emerged, reflecting the premium in the offer and the chance that the board could engage, reject the bid or seek alternatives.

For investors, the immediate question is deal certainty. No public filing, board statement or merger agreement has been released, and the reporting relies on anonymous sources describing confidential talks. That leaves open whether PayPal's board will engage, whether the buyers will raise their terms, and how regulators would view a deal combining a major private payments company with a large public incumbent.

At the reported terms, a successful acquisition would rank among the biggest recent financial technology deals and would be an aggressive move by Stripe into public-company M&A alongside one of the world's largest private equity firms.