European online payments outfit Moneybookers has been put up for sale by Bahrain-based private equity group Investcorp, according to the Financial Times.
JP Morgan has been appointed to handle the sale, with a price of around EUR400 million floated in early discussions with potential buyers, says the FT.
Founded in 2001, Moneybookers was acquired by Investcorp in a EUR105 million deal in 2007. The firm says revenues for 2008 were up 88% on the previous year, to EUR34.5 million with Ebitda rising 108% to EUR18.7 million.
The FSA-regulated firm has seen rapid customer adoption over the last year and now claims 6.3 million account holders, up 61% on a year ago, with 10,000 sign-ups a day in December.
In addition, around 35,000 merchants around the world now offer Moneybookers as a payments option, with Thomas Cook, Unicef, Wikipedia and Skype among its high profile users.
In February the company received a boost to its plans to crack the US market when online auction house eBay added Moneybookers as an approved payments method.
Investcorp's decision to sell comes after the global economic crisis resulted in a half year net loss of $511 million.
Bill Me Later, which offers a similar service to Moneybookers was acquired by eBay for around $820 million in cash and $125 million worth of outstanding options in October.
Moneybookers up for sale - FT