Investcorp plans a London listing of its Moneybookers online payments firm
Investcorp, the Bahrain-based investment bank, is understood to be eyeing a float of Moneybookers, the fast-growing European online payment firm it tried to sell last year.
Investcorp has hired Morgan Stanley and Jefferies to help prepare for a stockmarket listing, the people said. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is also likely to have a role, two of the people added.
News of the potential flotation emerged as another Internet-focused company, Betfair, opened its books on a planned flotation that would value the online betting exchange at up to £1.5bn.
London-based Moneybookers hired JPMorgan to explore a potential sale last year but later shelved the auction.
The online payments business said it had been approached by major Internet companies, US payment processors and private equity firms about a potential deal and it could fetch more than €400m (£349.7m).
Moneybookers competes with online auctioneer eBay’s Paypal service, and with money transfer companies including Western Union Co for “peer-to-peer” business such as helping expatriates send money home.
It also handles payments for gambling websites.
Investcorp is thought to be hoping the London listing, of perhaps a third of the company, could place a value of more than €500m (£438m) on the whole company.