By David French
NEW YORK (Reuters) – BTRS Holdings Inc, the owner of business payments vendor Billtrust, is exploring options that include a potential sale, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Lawrenceville, New Jersey-based company is working with an investment bank as it considers its alternatives, the sources said. A sale to a private equity firm is one of the options being examined, the sources added.
The sources cautioned that no deal was certain. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.
BTRS declined to comment. Its shares jumped 15% on the news and were trading up 9% at $5.75 in afternoon trading in New York on Wednesday, giving the company a market value of $930 million.
Billtrust provides cloud-based software that helps businesses shift from paper invoicing to an integrated digital payments system. It employs more than 760 people in seven countries, according to its website.
BTRS went public after merging with a special purpose acquisition company in January 2021. Its shares peaked in mid-February 2021 and are down 73% since then, as the tailwind of businesses turning to digital payments solutions to navigate COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns subsided.
BTRS has not posted a quarterly net profit since becoming a public company, which it has attributed to maintaining high rates of investment in growing products and services, both in the United States and internationally.
(Reporting by David French in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
