Ebury Secures £550M Funding Round with Centerbridge Lead as Santander Lifts Stake to 55%
Ebury, Banco Santander's international payments and trade finance fintech, has secured approximately £550 million in new funding to accelerate global expansion and product development, the company confirmed today.
The financing round is led by Centerbridge Partners, with participation from existing shareholders Santander, Vitruvian Partners and 83North. Santander is investing a further £50 million and increases its holding from 50.1% to 55%, retaining majority control.
The deal lands after Ebury shelved a planned 2025 London IPO when tariff-driven market volatility soured the listings window. Bloomberg reported in November that Santander was exploring a stake sale as an alternative path to monetisation. Bringing in Centerbridge as a new institutional shareholder gives Ebury fresh growth capital without forcing a public listing in choppy conditions.
Ana Botín, Executive Chair of Banco Santander, said: "These transactions support both Ebury's continued growth and Santander's focus on disciplined capital allocation and value creation. The additional investments will enable Ebury to scale faster and enhance its offering to SMEs globally. The new partners also add significant strategic value, combining complementary expertise to accelerate growth and maximise the platform's long-term potential."
Juan Lobato, Founder and CEO of Ebury, said: "We are particularly pleased to welcome Centerbridge as a new investor in the group of our existing investors."
Proceeds will fund product development, geographic expansion and the build-out of Ebury's AI capabilities. The London-headquartered firm serves more than 27,000 businesses, processing cross-border payments in over 140 currencies across 160 countries.
The recapitalisation reinforces Santander's strategy of running Ebury as a dedicated SME-focused trade and FX platform alongside the bank's traditional corporate offer, rather than absorbing it into the parent. With Centerbridge on the cap table and a strengthened balance sheet, an IPO remains plausible once equity markets stabilise, but Ebury now has the runway to time it on its own terms.
