OPay is now a public company. The Nigerian payments firm priced its New York listing at $19 per American depositary share on 30 October, the bottom of its $19 to $21 range, and its shares started trading on the New York Stock Exchange the same day under the ticker OPAY. Selling 16 million shares at that price raises $304 million before fees and values the company at about $4 billion, according to OPay's pricing announcement.
READ ALSO: OPay Sets IPO Price Range, Eyes $4.4B Valuation on NYSE
OPay doubled its private valuation in five years and listed as a profitable company, but it accepted the lowest price on offer to get the deal done.
The final terms
| Item | Range set on 23 October | Final, 30 October |
|---|---|---|
| Price per ADS | $19 to $21 | $19 |
| ADSs sold | 16 million | 16 million |
| Raise before fees | Up to $336 million | $304 million |
| Valuation | Up to about $4.42 billion | About $4 billion |
| Extra shares for underwriters | 2.4 million | 2.4 million, 30-day option |
| Closing | Not set | Expected 2 November |
The joint bookrunners are Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Standard Bank of South Africa, with B. Riley Securities and Needham as co-managers, the release says. If the underwriters take up all 2.4 million extra shares, the raise grows to $349.6 million before fees.
What pricing at the bottom means
Pricing at the low end is not a failure, but it tells you where the balance of power sat. OPay had lined up non-binding interest of up to $270 million from nine investors before the roadshow, including Redwheel, Ninety One and Coronation's Africa Frontiers Fund, and Standard Bank's African holding company agreed a separate private placement of up to $200 million. With that support in hand, the company still could not push buyers above $19.
Two forces were working against it. US listings have faced pressure this month from a selloff in AI stocks and renewed inflation worries, and several companies have delayed their plans. And OPay's own numbers carry a question investors kept asking: about half of its first half revenue, $236.1 million of $467.1 million, came from lending, and it set aside $118.4 million for expected credit losses in the same period, according to its SEC filing. A payments app that earns like a lender gets valued partly like one.
The gap is real money. At $21, OPay would have raised $32 million more from the same 16 million shares. In return it gets a price that leaves room for the stock to rise in its first weeks of trading.
The numbers behind the $4 billion
OPay launched in Nigeria in 2018 and now serves more than 50 million users across Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan and Indonesia, the company says. Nigeria is by far its biggest market. Its filing shows gross transaction value of $358 billion in 2025, more than double the $166.2 billion of 2024, and monthly active users of 39.3 million in 2025, up from 25.1 million.
Profit is the part that sets OPay apart from the fintech listings of the 2021 boom. It made $72.5 million in 2025 and $90.9 million in net income in the first half of 2026 alone, on revenue that more than doubled year on year. Its last private round, a $400 million raise in 2021, valued it at about $2 billion. Listing at $4 billion doubles that in five years.
READ ALSO: OPay Files for a New York IPO After Making $90.9M in Six Months
What it means for OPay users and Nigerian investors
For the millions who use OPay for transfers, cards and POS payments, nothing changes in the app. The new money goes to the company, and the shares sold are new ones.
What does change is disclosure. As a US listed company OPay must publish detailed results every quarter, including how its loans perform and how much it sets aside for bad debts. Customers who borrow through the app and merchants who depend on its terminals will get a much clearer view of the business.
Nigerian investors cannot buy OPAY on a local exchange yet. OPay's board and shareholders have approved a secondary listing on the Nigerian Exchange to follow the New York listing, but no date or price has been set. Its earlier filing warned that shares listed in Lagos may not be freely exchangeable with those traded in New York.
Lessons for founders
- Profit buys you a listing, not a premium. OPay arrived profitable and still priced at the floor. Public investors will pay for growth, but they will also discount for risk they can see, such as a heavy lending book.
- Anchor investors make a deal happen. Lining up $270 million of interest and a bank placement before pricing meant OPay could list in a nervous market instead of waiting.
- Timing is outside your control. The same company, with the same numbers, might have priced higher a quarter earlier. Founders planning a listing should keep a strong balance sheet so they can choose whether to wait.
Dates to watch
- 2 November: the offering is expected to close.
- By late November: the underwriters' 30-day window to buy the extra 2.4 million shares ends. Whether they buy them is a signal of demand after listing.
- First quarterly report as a public company: the first public look at loan performance and credit losses since the filing.
- The Nigerian Exchange listing: a date and terms for Lagos have not been announced.
OPay is listed at $19 and a $4 billion valuation. The first weeks of trading and its first public loan numbers will decide whether that price was a bargain or the right call.
