Interswitch Ltd., which processes payments for banks and owns a brand of debit cards in Nigeria, suspended plans to raise as much as $1 billion in an initial public offering as investors fret over further potential weakness in the naira and a shortage of foreign currency.
The company, which operates in five African countries, said last year it met with banks including Bank of America Corp., Barclays Plc and Standard Bank Group Ltd. about a potential 2016 share sale in Lagos and London. The IPO would have enabled London-based private equity group Helios Investment Partners LLP, a shareholder, to return some money to investors, Interswitch Chief Executive Officer Mitchell Elegbe said in a Dec. 16 interview.