US banking giant JP Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) is one of the firms that has made an approach for global payments outfit Worldpay Group Inc (LON:WPG)
If it goes through, it would be one of the biggest deals the US bank has sealed since 2008 and the financial meltdown.
Today, Worldpay said in a statement it had received “preliminary approaches” from US card purchase processor Vantiv and JPMorgan Chase Bank.
Vantiv Inc is a US-based credit-card processor.
Worldpay takeover tussle sees shares surge nearly 30% https://t.co/0wHOdAVHFE
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JP Morgan already runs a European payments business, based in Ireland, and processes around 40mln credit and debit transactions a day.
In 2015, the group announced an overhaul of its Chase Pay product to better compete with firms like PayPal Holdings Inc and is pushing its payment app.
Meanwhile, Worldpay processes millions of payments daily in stores, online and on mobile phones, mainly across the UK and the U.S.
It was valued at £4.8bn when it floated in 2015 after its split from London listed bank RBS (LON:RBS) following the financial crisis in 2009 and profits were £264mln last year, up from £19mln in 2015.
Vantiv has been growing rapidly through small acquisitions, but a deal for Worldpay would mark a serious change of pace and make good strategic sense said analysts.
Worldpay has 400,000 merchants in 126 currencies on its books with an advanced e-commerce platform used by the global giants.
Vantiv by contrast is largely US-focused and slightly larger in market cap terms and consolidating its position through the acquisition of smaller US rivals.