US card payment processing giant Vantiv has agreed to buy British peer Worldpay for ￡9.3 billion (US$12.1 billion), the two companies said yesterday.
The blockbuster deal will create a leading international e-commerce payments provider that will process about US$1.5 trillion in payments and 40 billion transactions per year in 146 countries and 126 currencies, they said in a statement.
The new group — which is to be called Worldpay — will have a combined stock market value of approximately ￡2.2 billion.
“The boards of directors of Vantiv and Worldpay are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended merger of Worldpay with Vantiv ... in the form of a recommended offer,” they said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.
The announcement, which followed an initial agreement last month, was billed as a merger, but will see Vantiv shareholders take a 57 percent stake of the combined group, while Worldpay investors will hold 43 percent.
The new company is to have its global and corporate headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, while London is to be its international base.
Vantiv will pay 397 pence per share for Worldpay, or ￡8 billion, plus another ￡1.3 billion to cover debts.
“This is a powerful combination that is strategically compelling for both companies,” Vantiv president and chief executive Charles Drucker said. “It joins two highly complementary businesses, and will allow us to achieve even more together than either organization could accomplish on its own.”
“Our combined company will have unparalleled scale, a comprehensive suite of solutions and the worldwide reach to make us the payments industry global partner of choice,” Drucker said.
Worldpay chief executive Philip Jansen added that the deal would offer “substantial opportunities to capitalize on the rapid evolution of payments.”
The deal will “offer more payment solutions to businesses, whether large or small, global or local, enabling them to meet consumers’ increasing demands,” he added.
Drucker is to be executive chairman and co-chief executive of the new group, alongside Jansen as co-chief.
The combined company will have a secondary listing on the London stock market, but will have its primary listing in New York.
Worldpay was formerly owned by Britain’s state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland, which sold off its remaining stake to private equity firms Advent International and Bain Capital in 2013.
The group was then floated on the London stock market in 2015.
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