The buy now, pay later (BNPL) giant Klarna is preparing to revive a public listing in New York this autumn, months after being forced to abort a previous attempt amid tariff-induced market turmoil.
Sky News has learnt that Klarna and its advisers are aiming to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in September or October if market conditions are conducive.
The timing of the IPO is being continuously reviewed, according to insiders, but is likely to take place well before the end of the year.
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In a memo sent to investors this month, and obtained by Sky News, Klarna finance chief Niclas Neglen said: “Our momentum continues to build, and our intention to list remains firm.
“We’re closely monitoring market conditions and will move swiftly when the timing aligns.
He added that shareholders should expect to be notified 48 hours in advance of an IPO being launched.
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The company has been attempting to shed its label as a BNPL-focused company and reposition itself as a digital bank in recent months.
This week, it said it had been authorised by the City watchdog as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI), allowing it to begin offering cashback to its 11m UK customers later this year.
Klarna, which employs about 5,000 people, was founded by chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski, who last year also set up a new holding company in Britain.
Nevertheless, its impending listing in the US delivered a fresh disappointment to the London Stock Exchange, which had been pushing for it to float in the UK.
Klarna has recovered from a torrid period in which it was forced to slash its valuation to $6.7bn (£5.3bn) in a funding round in 2022.
It had once been valued at $46bn (£36.6bn) and drawn backing from investors such as SoftBank’s Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital and Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund.
Klarna declined to comment on the potential timing of a second attempt to go public.
John Craske, a spokesman for the company, insisted it was not “repositioning” itself as a digital bank because it had “a full Swedish banking license since 2017”.
