Vantiv buys Worldpay for more than £9 billion
(10 August 2017 – Global) In a deal that creates the world’s biggest payments company by transaction volume, Vantiv has finalised a deal to acquire British payment processing rival for £9.3 billion (A$15.3 billion).
Valued at more than £22 billion, the combined group will remain known as Worldpay and be based out of London.
The terms of the deal were improved after pressure from investors following an announcement of the original offer last month - and rival interest from US bank JPMorgan.
The new company will be led by co-chief executives, Charles Drucker, president and chief executive of Vantiv, and Philip Jansen, a turnaround specialist who was brought in to run Worldpay.
Under the improved terms, Worldpay shareholders will own 43 percent of the combined group, compared with 41 percent proposed in the original offer. They will receive 55p in cash, a dividend of 5p per share, and 0.07 percent of a new Vantiv share.
The companies confirmed that Vantiv would seek a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange to provide access to UK investors.
Vantiv was founded in 1971 by Fifth Third bank in the US to provide electronic money transfers to financial institutions. The company operated as a unit within the bank until private equity group Advent International acquired a 51 percent share in 2009 after the financial crisis forced the bank to cede full ownership.
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