Canadian payments software firm Lightspeed explores sale, sources say

Lightspeed Commerce LSPD-T, a payments software maker with a market value of $2.8 billion, is working with a financial adviser to exploring options including a potential sale, according to people familiar with the matter.

The sale talks come months after the Montreal-based company replaced its CEO Jean Paul Chauvet and brought back founder Dax Dasilva at the helm, as investors raised concerns over the company’s plan to prioritize growth over profitability following disappointing quarterly results in February.

Lightspeed has tapped investment bankers at JPMorgan Chase to evaluate its options and solicit interest from potential buyers, which could include private equity firms, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the discussions are confidential.

The talks are at an early stage and a deal is not guaranteed, the sources said.

Lightspeed and JPMorgan declined to comment.

The company’s recent share price performance and Advent International’s recent buyout of rival Canadian payments firm Nuvei has prompted Dasilva to stay open to the option of the company being taken private, he told Bloomberg in a March interview.

Lightspeed’s stock has lost more than a third of their value since the company went public about five years ago, as weak consumer spending weighed on its performance. Its shares are currently trading at $18.79, having peaked at $155 in 2021 when it rode a wave of investor enthusiasm for financial technology providers that thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company’s shares tanked later in 2021 after short-seller Spruce Point Capital published a report alleging that the company had inflated its numbers following its initial public offering. Lightspeed denied those allegations back then.

Since his return to Lightspeed, Dasilva has reversed the earlier CEO’s strategy and has made the pursuit of profitability a centrepiece of his strategy to turn around the company’s fortunes.

Lightspeed is a provider of payments software that is primarily used by restaurants and other businesses.