Oct 30 (Reuters) - SoftBank-backed digital-payments company OPay withdrew a planned $304 million US initial public offering on Friday, citing a regulatory inquiry by a foreign jurisdiction it did not identify.
The Nigeria-focused company described the inquiry as relating to a jurisdiction "immaterial" to its core operations. In a statement, it did not identify the regulator or nature of the inquiry.
OPay said it expected the matter to be resolved satisfactorily in the near future and that the probe
"should not be misconstrued as a reflection on the Company’s business performance, financial condition, operational integrity, or regulatory standing."
The company said the inquiry would not affect its operations, regulatory standing or customer service in Nigeria or its other markets.
OPay could not immediately be reached for comment outside office hours.
Earlier in the day, OPay said it had priced 16 million American depositary shares at $19 each, the bottom of its targeted $19-to-$21 range, valuing the company at about $4 billion.
Japanese tech investor SoftBank Group, whose entities owned a 6.6% stake in OPay before the offering, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Numerous companies worldwide have delayed stock market listings in recent weeks as stubborn inflation and a selloff in AI-related stocks have weighed on investor sentiment.
OPay, founded in 2018, provides digital financial services across emerging markets, including Nigeria and Indonesia.
Its app offers payments, money transfers, savings and loans in economies where limited access to traditional banking can make everyday transactions difficult.
OPay was founded by Chinese billionaire Yahui Zhou, who also founded Beijing Kunlun Tech, a Chinese gaming company that previously owned dating app Grindr.
The fintech raised $400 million in 2021 at a valuation of $2 billion. It had about 50 million monthly active users as of July 31, according to its IPO prospectus.
Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Standard Bank and CICC were among the underwriters. The company had planned to list on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "OPay."
(Reporting by Prakhar Srivastava, Pragyan Kalita and Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel, Shilpi Majumdar and William Mallard)
