Worldpay agrees £9.1bn merger with US rival Vantiv
Cash-and-shares offer values payments processor Worldpay at 365p per share
Payments processor Worldpay yesterday confirmed it had agreed a deal in principle to merge with US rival Vantiv in a deal worth up to £9.1bn.
Under the terms of the merger, credit card giant Vantiv will offer the UK’s biggest payments processor 365p per share, equivalent to approximately £7.7bn in total.
However, including debt, the deal has an enterprise value of £9.1bn and will see Worldpay shareholders own approximately 41% of the share capital of the combined group.
The group will be led by Vantiv’s Charles Drucker as executive chairman and co-CEO and Worldpay’s Philip Jansen as co-CEO, with Stephanie Ferris as CFO.
“The boards of Worldpay and Vantiv see compelling strategic, commercial and financial rationale for combining Worldpay and Vantiv’s complementary businesses,” Worldpay said in a statement.
“The Potential Merger creates a scale world class payments group in a dynamic market, with deep payments capabilities, product and vertical expertise and strong distribution channels to serve merchants around the world in the global ecommerce market, and in-store and online in the UK and US market.”
Worldpay is one of the biggest payment service providers in the online gambling space having worked with operators including 888, William Hill, Ladbrokes and Betfair.
Worldpay’s share price was down 3.06% to 360.60p on the London Stock Exchange at the time of writing.