Tyro Payments, valued at roughly $512 million, has confirmed it has received multiple takeover approaches. The listed payments business, which remains without a named CEO successor, faces mounting speculation about potential suitors.

Shareholders are growing increasingly impatient waiting for their much-anticipated payday. To their frustration, the board remains cagey about the interest it has been getting.

The fintech has entered a trading halt amid the flurry of activity. On August 11, it requested a trading halt “pending the release of an announcement regarding material information in relation to approaches received by the Company”.

The tight-lipped company has so far only confirmed that various parties have expressed interest in a takeover and that the board felt suitors were undervaluing the company.

It put out a statement saying, “While the company remains prepared to engage with approaches that may deliver sufficient value to shareholders, at this stage, the interest received is not at the level that the Tyro board has considered representative of Tyro’s intrinsic value.”

Payment businesses are in hot demand

CEO Jon Davey formally announced his resignation in June 2025 to join a private equity-backed firm. He’s said he’ll remain in his role for up to six months to support a handover, but Tyro has yet to name a successor. That’s created leadership uncertainty at an awkward time.

Tyro’s push to acquire Smartpay earlier this year ended after the New Zealand EFTPOS operator struck a deal with US-based Shift4.

There’s renewed speculation about Stripe’s interest in Tyro, though Stripe’s ANZ boss has publicly played down those rumours. The big Australian banks and private equity could also be circling. Back in 2023, after doing its due diligence, private equity firm Potentia Capital abandoned a $1.60 a share bid for Tyro.

Some Tyro shareholders even suspect that Shift4, having outbid Tyro for Smartpay, will now also buy Tyro itself.