Finance
Klarna Files for IPO, Promises Investors ‘New Era of Finance’ | PYMNTS.com
Klarna said Friday (March 14) that it publicly filed a registration form on Form F-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to a proposed initial public offering of its ordinary shares.
“The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined,” the company said in a Friday press release. “Klarna has applied to list its ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘KLAR.’”
In a letter included in the Form F-1, Klarna CEO and Co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski wrote that the company’s offerings, including its buy now, pay later (BNPL) feature, have drawn close to 100 million people.
“It is an amazingly diverse group of people with really one thing in common: their resentment of traditional banks,” Siemiatkowski wrote. “They want simple and transparent fees. They want to avoid mishap fees. They want fixed and clear payoff horizons for major purchases. Ultimately, they want a bank that delivers trust by putting their interests first — and yes, preferably interest-free.”
Klarna said in the Form F-1 that as of Dec. 31, it had 93 million active consumers and 675,000 merchants. It also had gross merchandise value (GMV) of $105 billion, revenue of $2.8 billion and net profit of $21 million as of that time, the firm said.
Addressing potential investors in his letter, Siemiatkowski wrote: “For those who join us, you’re not just investing in a company — you’re investing in a new era of finance.”
It was reported March 6 that Klarna was perhaps days away from filing for its IPO and that unnamed sources said the company hopes to raise at least $1 billion, with plans to price the IPO early in April. The same sources said the company is targeting a value of more than $15 billion when it lists on the New York Stock Exchange.
Klarna said in November that it “confidentially submitted” a draft registration statement for an IPO to the SEC.
A month earlier, Chrysalis Investments increased the value of its stake in Klarna, giving the company an implied valuation of roughly $14.6 billion.
Google Cloud and FactSet, a provider of data and artificial intelligence solutions to the financial markets, plan to jointly develop AI agents designed to assist with portfolio operations, deal advisory and corporate finance.
Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling changing certain federal campaign finance limits could make a big difference in the battle for control of Congress this fall, giving Republican candidates who have been getting outraised by opponents direct access to more party cash.
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The World Bank is ditching its commitment to steer 45 percent of its spending toward projects with climate benefits, after facing pressure from the Trump administration.
The move, announced Monday following a meeting of the bank’s board of directors last week, marks a victory in President Donald Trump’s effort to purge climate policies from U.S. foreign policy. His administration has described the target as “distortionary” and “nonsensical.”
The bank preserved its broader Climate Change Action Plan — of which the 45 percent target was a key metric — just days before it was set to expire at the end of June. In addition to directing money toward climate projects, the plan provides technical support for helping countries reduce their greenhouse gas pollution and adapt to rising temperatures.
“We will retire the 45% climate co-benefits target,” the World Bank Group said in a statement, noting that it had “done significant work in answering client demand and needs.”
The bank’s work on climate “is and will remain firmly client driven, supporting them in delivering on their own ambitions as set out in their national plans and NDCs,” the statement added, referring to the nationally determined contributions countries submit under the Paris Agreement.
The decision to drop the climate finance target follows months of pressure from the Trump administration. People with knowledge of the negotiations said the U.S. was firm that the target must go despite other countries indicating their support for the bank’s climate goal. The U.S. has sway over the bank’s decisions as its largest shareholder.
Beyond the finance target, the Climate Change Action Plan also provides diagnostic reports on countries’ climate and development goals and aims to align lending with the Paris Agreement, which calls for preventing temperature rise from surpassing 2 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution.
The bank said it would honor a board request to undertake an independent evaluation of the climate plan to determine if it’s helping countries grapple with rising temperatures. The decision effectively extends the plan beyond its expiration at the end of June.
The climate target was supported by many of the bank’s shareholders. It’s also been a prominent signal of the bank’s support for climate action at a time when the impacts of rising temperatures are accelerating.
“This is way, way away from where we should be for a responsible financial architecture,” said one official from a developed country who was directly involved in the negotiations and was granted anonymity to describe internal discussions.
The bank will continue to track and report on the amount of money going to projects with climate co-benefits. It exceeded its own target last year by directing 48 percent of its financing to climate-related projects.
Other climate targets embedded in agreements that govern different arms of the bank will remain, including one for the International Development Association, the bank’s fund for the poorest countries.
Multilateral development banks play a key role in global climate negotiations, where wealthy countries have committed to helping provide $300 billion a year for poorer countries by 2035. That no longer includes the United States, which has left the Paris Agreement and will exit the underlying United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change early next year.
“Targets send enormous signals about an institution’s direction of travel,” said Clemence Landers, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. “At the same time, it’s a sign of the times and the World Bank is doing its level best to not rankle its largest shareholder.”
She believes the bank will continue financing renewable energy projects in countries that want them, despite having dropped its climate target.
“I wouldn’t be shocked if the bank continued to have an extremely robust clean pipeline with or without this target,” said Landers.
The bank says retiring the 45 percent target is part of its shift from a focus on “inputs to outcomes.” It will continue to monitor and report net greenhouse gas emissions across its projects and countries’ ability to withstand climate risks.
“We will continue to report to the Board on progress, including on climate co-benefits, and to contribute to our related joint MDB efforts,” the statement said, referring to its role as a multilateral development bank. “We will explore and discuss ways to better structure our engagement on adaptation, nature and pollution.”
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