Prepaid debit card provider NetSpend Holdings Inc. on Thursday filed plans for an initial public offering that could raise up to $200 million, just as its major competitor Green Dot Corp. is slated to go public next week.
The two companies sell low-cost, reloadable debit cards, which are aimed at the country's "underbanked" population without access to traditional bank accounts.
NetSpend said it had about 2.1 million cards active as of March 31, while Green Dot said it had 3.4 million active cards in its portfolio.
Like Green Dot, NetSpend is growing fast. In the three months ended March 31, its net income rose 29 percent to $4.6 million, while revenue grew 27 percent to $69.5 million. NetSpend said it may use some of the proceeds to pay down some debt.
NetSpend said it intends to trade on the Nasdaq, but did not say when. It did not offer price terms for its IPO.
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