Private equity firm Veritas Capital Fund Management is negotiating a potential $5.4 billion buyout of Jacksonville-based Dun & Bradstreet Holdings Inc., Bloomberg news reported late Feb. 6.
That followed a separate Bloomberg story earlier in the day that London-based Paysafe Ltd., which has its North American headquarters in Jacksonville, also is considering a sale.
Business data firm Dun & Bradstreet moved its headquarters to Jacksonville in 2021, acquiring the 218,700-square-foot Town Center Two building at 5335 Gate Parkway across Butler Boulevard from St. Johns Town Center.
Paysafe established its North American headquarters in the Dun & Bradstreet building in 2023.
The two companies are separate but both have links to Bill Foley, chairman of Jacksonville-based Fidelity National Financial Inc.
Foley led an investment group that bought Dun & Bradstreet in 2019 and then took it public in 2020.
Payments processing company Paysafe went public in 2021 by merging with a special purpose acquisition company formed by Foley.
Neither company immediately responded to email inquiries about the reports. However, Dun & Bradstreet confirmed in August that it had received interest about a possible sale.
CEO Anthony Jabbour said in Dun & Bradstreet’s Oct. 31 conference call to discuss third-quarter earnings that talks were continuing, but he gave no other details.
The Bloomberg story on Paysafe, which cited unnamed sources, did not name any potential acquirers.
Paysafe’s stock was trading above $100 after going public in 2021 but has dropped sharply since, trading in the teens before the Bloomberg story.
The stock rose as much as $4.30 to $24.11 Feb. 6 after the story.
The Dun & Bradstreet story came after the market closed, and its stock opened 41 cents higher at $12.54 Feb. 7.
The stock rose as much as $2.46 to $12.75 Aug. 2 when Reuters first reported the company was engaged in sale talks.
Both Dun & Bradstreet and Paysafe maintain connections to Fidelity.
Cannae Holdings Inc., the investment firm spun off from Fidelity, was Dun & Bradstreet’s largest shareholder with 17.8% of the stock, according to the company’s 2024 proxy state.
Cannae also owned 5% of Paysafe but reduced its stake to 4.1% after selling some of its shares in November.
Both companies are run by CEOs who were formerly executives of Jacksonville-based Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, which was also spun off from Fidelity National Financial.
Paysafe CEO Bruce Lowthers was president of FIS before resigning in 2022 and joining Paysafe.
Dun & Bradstreet’s Jabbour was an executive vice president at FIS before becoming CEO of mortgage technology company Black Knight Inc. in 2018.
Black Knight was spun off from Fidelity National Financial with an IPO in 2015 and was acquired by Intercontinental Exchange Inc. in 2023.