Sweden's Klarna confidentially files for US IPO

(Reuters) -Swedish payments group Klarna said on Tuesday it had confidentially filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering.

The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed IPO have not yet been determined, the "buy now pay later" company said in a statement.

In August, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski hinted at a potential IPO next year, saying it "sounds reasonable," but cautioned that no definite commitment had been made. He had said Klarna might lean towards a U.S. listing but had also seriously evaluated some European options as well.

The company reported a first-half adjusted profit of 673 million Swedish crowns ($61.74 million) in August, driven by job cuts and the implementation of artificial intelligence for customer services.

Klarna also reported first-half revenue of 13.3 billion crowns, up 27% from a year before and boosted by revenue growth of 38% in the U.S. Its adjusted profit compares with a loss of 456 mln crowns a year earlier.

At the time of a peak valuation of $46 billion in 2021 - on the basis of a fundraising carried out at the time - Klarna was unprofitable with much less revenue and had about 7,000 employees.

But Bloomberg News reported earlier this year that the company had considered seeking a valuation of around $20 billion for its IPO and was close to selecting Goldman Sachs as the lead bank.

The company, which has been one of the early adopters of GenAI to cut costs and boost productivity, currently has about 3,800 employees.



Founded in 2005 in Stockholm, Klarna offers direct payments, pay after delivery options and instalment plans to about 85 million active consumers across more than 575,000 merchants in 26 countries, according to its website.

($1 = 10.9010 Swedish crowns)

Source: Investing.com