OPay pulls its $304m New York listing before a single share trades
OPay, the payments company founded by Chinese billionaire Yahui Zhou, has called off its planned $304 million listing on the New York Stock Exchange, after a regulatory inquiry in a foreign country it has not named. OPay said in a statement on Saturday, 31 October, that it and its underwriters had agreed to end the deal.
The listing had been priced on Friday, 30 October: 16 million American depositary shares at $19 each, the bottom of its $19 to $21 range, valuing the company at about $4 billion. The shares were due to start trading under the ticker OPAY, and the deal was due to close on 2 November. But the shares never opened for trading.
OPay described the inquiry as relating to a country that is “immaterial” to its main business, and said it expects the matter to be settled satisfactorily soon. It said the withdrawal should not be read as a comment on its business, finances, operations or regulatory standing, and that its services in Nigeria, Indonesia, Egypt and Pakistan are running as normal.
The cancelled listing also puts on hold a planned $200 million investment from Stanbic Africa Holdings, part of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, which had agreed to buy new shares in a private deal tied to the listing. OPay has not said what will happen to that investment, or to its planned second listing on the Nigerian Exchange.
Why it matters
OPay is one of Africa’s biggest financial technology companies, with about 50 million monthly users, and Nigeria supplied 89.5% of its revenue in the first half of 2026. A listing pulled at the last minute, after the opening bell had already been rung, is rare — and it shows how a regulatory question in one country can stop a global listing, even when the company says it has nothing to do with its main markets.
What happens next
Watch for any detail about the inquiry, and for whether OPay tries to list again. The company has given no new date for a listing. The fate of the Stanbic investment and the planned Nigerian Exchange listing is also still unclear.
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
Sources
- https://techpoint.africa/news/opay-withdraws-nyse-ipo/ (Techpoint Africa, 31 October 2026)
- https://www.billionaires.africa/2026/10/31/chinese-billionaire-yahui-zhous-nigerian-fintech-opay-pulls-304-million-new-york-ipo/ (Billionaires.Africa, 31 October 2026)
