Digital payments firm SumUp borrows 750 million euros to fund growth

BERLIN (Reuters) - Digital payments provider SumUp said on Tuesday it had borrowed 750 million euros ($894 million) from backers led by Goldman Sachs to invest in acquisitions and new products as it continues its global expansion.

Also backing the debt round by the provider of mobile point-of-sale terminals for small businesses like cafes and car repair shops were Singapore's Temasek Holdings, Bain Capital Credit, Crestline and funds run by Oaktree Capital Management.

"We are interested in everything relating to small merchants," said Marc-Alexander Christ, SumUp's co-founder, adding that the choice of debt financing meant that existing shareholders would not have their stakes diluted.

Its customer base has been hit by lockdown measures imposed to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Christ told Reuters in an interview, adding there are signs of recovery amid a broader shift to cashless payment.

SumUp competes with Swedish rival iZettle, as well as with U.S. payments companies Square and Paypal. It currently serves 3 million merchants in 33 markets spanning Europe, the United States and Brazil.

The company, founded in 2012, has been tipped as a candidate for a stock market listing but Christ said such a step was three to five years away. It last raised a 330 million euro debt round in July 2019.

(Reporting by Nadine Schimroszik, Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)