OPay sets NYSE IPO range at US$19–21, seeking up to US$336 million; CICC among banks

OPay, a Singapore-headquartered digital financial services company that conducts most of its business in Nigeria, plans to sell 16 million American depositary shares (ADSs) on the New York Stock Exchange at US$19 to US$21 each, according to an amended filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 23 October 2026.

At the top of the range the sale would raise US$336 million before fees. The amendment, known as an F-1/A, is the first filing to put a price range and share count on the deal: the original F-1, filed on 9 October, left both blank. The shares are to trade under the ticker “OPAY”.

An ADS is a certificate traded on a US exchange that stands for shares of a foreign company held by a depositary bank. Each OPay ADS represents 10 ordinary shares. The underwriters, the banks that buy the shares from the company and sell them on to investors, may buy up to 2.4 million more ADSs within 30 days to cover extra demand. With that option, the maximum offering amount OPay registered with the SEC is US$386.4 million.

The banks named on the prospectus cover are Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Standard Bank, CICC, B. Riley Securities and Needham & Company. The underwriting agreement filed with the amendment names China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited as one of four representatives of the underwriters, alongside Citigroup Global Markets Inc., the Hong Kong branch of Deutsche Bank AG and The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited.

OPay will have 2,107,120,886 ordinary shares outstanding after the offering and a concurrent private placement, assuming a price of US$20 per ADS. On that share count, Techpoint Africa, an African tech news site, calculated a valuation of about US$4.42 billion at the top of the range.

Nine investors have told OPay they may buy up to US$270 million of ADSs at the IPO price. Redwheel Group and Coronation Africa Frontiers Fund indicated up to US$50 million each; Sundt AS, SCC Foresight Ventures Ltd. with an affiliate, Ninety One Asia Pte. Limited and 3W Fund Management Limited up to US$30 million each; Ludvig Lorentzen AS and SBVA, formerly SoftBank Ventures Asia, up to US$20 million each; and NGS Super Pty Limited up to US$10 million. The prospectus says these indications “do not constitute binding agreements, commitments or obligations to purchase ADSs.”

Separately, Stanbic Africa Holdings Limited, part of South Africa's Standard Bank Group, has agreed to buy new ordinary shares directly from OPay alongside the IPO. It will pay the lowest of three amounts: US$200 million; the dollar equivalent of 0.98% of Standard Bank Group's qualifying regulatory capital; or 4.99% of OPay's shares after closing multiplied by the share price. Stanbic may not sell the shares until 12 months after the date of the prospectus, with some exceptions.

OPay describes itself as “a digital financial platform built for the challenges of emerging markets”. It offers digital payments, savings, merchant services, including point-of-sale (POS) devices for in-person transactions, and credit for individuals and small businesses. Besides Nigeria, it operates in Indonesia, Egypt and Pakistan.

The company says it had 50.1 million monthly active users and 26.8 million daily active users as of 31 July 2026. Revenue for the six months to 30 June 2026 was US$467.1 million, up from US$197.5 million a year earlier, and net income rose to US$90.9 million from US$21.7 million. For 2025, OPay reported revenue of US$536.3 million and net income of US$72.5 million.

The filing says OPay set up a Hong Kong company in November 2017 and launched its first payment platform in collaboration with Opera Limited, the browser company. OPay was founded by the Chinese billionaire Zhou Yahui and raised US$400 million at a US$2 billion valuation in 2021, Reuters reported on 12 October. Zhou, born in 1977 and a graduate of Tsinghua University, founded the Chinese games company Kunlun Tech in 2008 and is chairman of Nasdaq-listed Opera.

The 9 October filing showed Zhou holding about 21.3% of OPay before the IPO through entities he controls, with Opera at 8.6% and SoftBank entities at 6.6%, the Chinese start-up news outlet Pencil News reported in an article republished by 36Kr on 14 October.

At the US$20 midpoint, OPay expects net proceeds of about US$291.0 million from the IPO and about US$183.6 million from the placement. The money is earmarked for general corporate purposes, including technology, distribution, new solutions, market expansion and possible acquisitions or strategic investments. Under the underwriting agreement, the company's lock-up period runs for 180 days after the date of the prospectus.

OPay's board and shareholders have approved plans to pursue a secondary listing on the Nigerian Exchange after the New York listing, subject to market conditions and Nigerian regulatory approval.