Europe's banks open up their wallets (TWIF 11/5)

Three planned fintech IPOs and a SPAC.

Not one, not two, but three announced and rumored Italian bank acquisitions in the last week.

A $10.5 billion megadeal between Nasdaq and Adenza, a $103 million crypto exchange acquisition in Thailand, and $250 paid by Wex for Payzer, as the fleet card provider gears up for an acquiring spree.

And a raft of Q3 fintech market data has become available, thanks to CB Insights.

Global fintech funding fell 3% QoQ to hit $7.4 billion.

US fintech funding saw a 5% drop in Q3’23.

But despite a drop in deals, digital lending secured the most funding among fintech sectors in Q3’23 — funding to the space rose by 70% QoQ to hit $1.7 billion.

Plaid brought on a new CFO to prepare for an eventual IPO that is hoped to value the financial data infrastructure company above its proposed 2020 $5.3 billion sale price to Visa and above its $13.4 billion 2021 fundraise valuation.

Apex Fintech, one of the largest clearing and settlement infrastructure providers and platforms for the investing industry, is considering plans for a 2024 IPO, after pulling plans to go public via SPAC in 2021.

Klarna established a UK holding company as a step towards a public listing.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a fintech-focused SPAC! FG Merger II filed for a $75 million IPO to target a company in the North American financial services market.

Equities exchange Nasdaq agreed to acquire Adenza, a software provider primarily used by banks and brokerages, for $10.5 billion. As part of the deal, Adenza's private equity owner Thoma Bravo will get a 14.9% stake in Nasdaq, making it one of the biggest shareholders in the exchange operator.

Wex, a corporate payment solutions provider for businesses that focuses on travel payment and corporate cards, announced that it will acquirePayzer, a maker of HVAC & plumbing business software, for $250 million. Matt Janiga notes on Twitter that Wex is also hiring an M&A attorney, a potential signal of more market-expansion acquisitions to come.

Package delivery company UPS will acquireHappy Returns, a reverse logistics company that enables frictionless, no-box, no-label returns for merchants and consumers, from PayPal, who acquired the company in 2021.

Kasikorn Bank, Thailand's second-largest bank, acquired a 97% stake in crypto exchange Satang for $103 million.

Togetherwork, a provider of group management software and payments, is reportedly seeking a buyer.

Shift4, an integrated payments and commerce software builder, completed its previously announced acquisition of Finaro, a cross-border ecommerce payments provider and fully-licensed bank.

French venture capital firm Founders Future acquired profitable equity crowdfunding platform Sowefund.

The European Payments Initiative, a bank-backed card network venture set up to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa in Europe, acquired Dutch payment scheme iDeal and Luxembourg's Payconiq.

German subscription management and recurring billing software solutions provider Billwerk+ announced the acquisition of its rival plenigo.

Orbyt, a CFO software provider for AR automation and integrated payments, acquiredTelia’s Finnish activities dedicated to providing eInvoice services.

UK embedded subscription management platform Youtility was acquired by Squeeze, a US insurance price comparison site.

Vista Equity partners completed its previously-announced $4 billion buyout of customer engagement and payments provider EngageSmart.

Stock of Italian bank and payments network provider Nexi jumped 19% to around $7 as rumors circulated of a potential buyout from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.

Italian bank UniCredit offered to buy the Greek state’s holding in Alpha Bank and agreed to acquire Alpha’s Romanian unit for €300 million in cash.

Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo acquired Romania’s First Bank from its private equity owner JC Flowers for about €130 million.

BBVA is consolidating its three tech firms into one new company, called BBVA Technology, which will employ 3,000 of their staff and offer a more "strategic focus."

Canadian Tire Corp. bought back a 20% stake in its financial-services business from Bank of Nova Scotia for C$895 million ($647 million) in an all-cash transaction.

Cadence Bank will sell its insurance brokerage unit to insurance brokerage Arthur J Gallagher for $904 million.

UK fund manager abrdn will sell its private equity unit to Brazil's Patria Investments for about £60 million.

Charlesbank Capital, a private equity firm, made a majority growth investment into Petra, a fund administrator serving private investment firms.

Private equity firm Blue Owl is weighing an acquisition of rival private credit lender Hayfin Capital Management.

Wealth management provider Canaccord Genuity is exploring a potential acquisition of Close Brothers' wealth management operations.

Canada's House of Commons has asked Ottawa to reject Royal Bank of Canada's proposed C$13.5 billion acquisition of HSBC's domestic unit on anticompetitive grounds.