Revolut’s founder will receive part of his multibillion-pound stake in the company as part of a $500 million (£391 million) share sale.
Sky News has learned that Nik Storonsky, who is the fintech giant’s chief executive, plans to offload shares worth tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars in the secondary business in the coming weeks.
City sources said the size of its divestiture would depend on the valuation Revolut is able to attract from new investors, as well as final allocation decisions by the company and its advisers, Morgan Stanley.
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The exact size of Storonsky’s stake is unclear, although at the $40 billion (£31 billion) valuation that Revolut hopes to attract, it would be worth several billion dollars.
Sky News revealed last month that Revolut had hired Morgan Stanley to arrange the secondary share sale and that it would be at least the $33bn (£26bn) valuation at which it raised primary funding in 2021.
Although the fintech, which has more than 40 million customers, is not planning to raise new capital as part of the transaction, any sizeable share sale will still be closely watched across the global fintech sector.
The expectation is that it will be restricted to company employees.
Last week, Revolut revealed record earnings of £438m last year, on revenues that almost doubled to £1.8bn.
Founded in 2015, it has faced a number of regulatory and compliance challenges, with reports last year highlighting the release of funds from accounts flagged by the National Crime Agency as suspicious.
The company’s growth has occurred at breakneck speed, with customer numbers rising from 16.4 million at the time of its Series E fundraising almost three years ago.
Insiders argued that despite the prolonged slowdown in tech valuations over the past two years, Revolut’s relentless expansion would easily justify maintaining its status as Britain’s most valuable fintech.
Monzo, the UK-based digital bank, recently confirmed a Sky News story that it had closed a funding round worth nearly £500 million, including backing from an arm of Google owner Alphabet and an Singapore sovereign wealth fund.
Elsewhere, however, the funding picture has been bleaker, with a growing number of technology companies that have attracted unicorn valuations of over a billion dollars now struggling to stay afloat.
Revolut has awarded share options to many of its 10,000 employees as part of their remuneration packages, although it is unclear how many would be eligible to divest equity in the transaction later this year.
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A source close to the company said it had received numerous expressions of interest from potential investors.
Revolut’s current shareholders include SoftBank’s Vision Fund and Tiger Global.
News of the proposed share sale comes as Revolut investors continue to await positive news on its UK banking license application.
The company applied to regulators to become a bank in Britain more than three years ago but has so far failed to win approval.
Storonsky has publicly criticized the delay and last year questioned the approach of British regulators and politicians by suggesting he would not contemplate a listing on the London Stock Exchange.
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A person close to Revolut said other board members could also participate in the secondary share sale.
The company is chaired by Martin Gilbert, the City veteran who faced governance and performance challenges at AssetCo, the London-listed asset manager he runs.
Its other directors include Michael Sherwood, the former Goldman Sachs executive who was co-responsible for its operations outside the US and who was considered one of the most skilled traders of his generation.
An external shareholder in the company said the exclusion of non-employees from the business could draw criticism from some investors.
Revolut has conducted secondary share sales of this type in the past, including after its 2021 Series E round.
Revolut declined to comment.
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