SAN FRANCISCO, California: Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have made a joint offer to acquire PayPal Holdings for US$60.50 per share, valuing the payments company at more than $53 billion, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The offer, submitted earlier this month, is backed by about $50 billion in committed financing from banks, one of the sources said. It represents a premium of about 28 percent to PayPal's closing share price on July 14.

The sources, who declined to be identified because the discussions are confidential, said Stripe and Advent first approached PayPal in early April. They have not yet received a response and are seeking to advance discussions in the coming weeks.

PayPal, Stripe and Advent declined to comment.

Under the proposal, Stripe and Advent would jointly own PayPal, each holding an equal stake rather than breaking up the company. The sources cautioned there is no certainty the discussions will result in a deal.

PayPal shares rose more than 15 percent in early trading.

If completed, the transaction would create the world's largest merchant acquirer by combining Stripe's roughly $1.9 trillion in annual payment volume with PayPal's nearly $1.8 trillion, for a combined total of about $3.7 trillion, or roughly three percent of global GDP.

Founded in the late 1990s, PayPal helped pioneer digital payments but has faced growing competition from alternative payment methods and rivals such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. The company's market capitalization peaked at about $360 billion in 2021 before falling to roughly $36 billion this year. Its shares have lost more than 40 percent of their value over the past 12 months.

After becoming chief executive in March, Enrique Lores launched a broad turnaround plan aimed at simplifying the business and restoring growth. In April, PayPal reorganized into three divisions covering checkout, consumer financial services including Venmo, and payments and crypto, while making a series of management changes.

William Blair analyst Andrew Jeffrey said, "We do not think PayPal's new CEO will likely embrace what could be viewed as a low-ball offer. If the current offer is an opening salvo, we could see Stripe and Advent go as high as $70 per share."

Analysts said the deal would complement Stripe's merchant-focused business by adding PayPal's more than 430 million consumer accounts and expanding its consumer payments capabilities.

TD Cowen analyst Bryan Bergin said PayPal's consumer offerings "could be attractive to materially accelerate" Stripe's digital wallet ambitions. The acquisition would also give Stripe access to Venmo's peer-to-peer payments network and PayPal's consumer checkout platform.

The proposed acquisition would add to a wave of consolidation in the global payments industry as companies pursue scale and faster-growing segments such as cross-border and business-to-business payments.

PayPal reported first-quarter revenue of $8.35 billion, up seven percent from a year earlier and above analysts' expectations of $8.05 billion. Total payment volume rose eight percent on a currency-neutral basis to about $464 billion. The company has said AI-driven efficiency initiatives are expected to save about $1.5 billion over the next two to three years, with those savings to be reinvested in future growth.