logo-loader

UK payments processor Worldpay agrees £9.3bn merger with US rival Vantiv

Published: 17:53 09 Aug 2017 AEST

Card payment
Worldpay shareholders will own 43% of the combined copmany

Britain’s largest payments processor, Worldpay Group PLC (LON:WPG), has agreed the terms of its merger with US rival Vantiv following weeks of negotiations.

Worldpay has accepted Vantiv’s £9.3bn takeover bid after the UK company was granted a last-minute extension to talks earlier this week.

READ: Worldpay takeover may be first of many as US firms go Brexit bargain hunting

The deal represents a 22.7% premium on Worldpay’s shares, which closed at 320p on 3 July when the original offer was announced, and will create a combined group worth more than £22bn.

The merged company will keep the Worldpay name and will be led by Charles Drucker, president and chief executive of Vantiv.

Vantiv to seek secondary listing in London 

The global headquarters will be in Cincinnati and the international headquarters will be in London. Vantiv will seek a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange to provide access to UK investors.

“This is a powerful combination that is strategically compelling for both companies,” Drucker said.

“It joins two highly complementary businesses, and will allow us to achieve even more together than either organisation could accomplish on its own.”

Worldpay shareholders will own 43% of the combined firm, an improvement on the 41% proposed in the original offer. 

The shareholders in Worldpay will receive 55p in cash, a dividend of 5p per share, and 0.07 of a new Vantiv share.

Merged company to create revenue and cost synergies 

The deal will create revenue and cost synergies of $200mln.

Worldpay investors had raised concerns over the valuation of the company and whether it would be listed in London, which had caused delays on the terms of the deal.

Alongside the announcement, Worldpay reported its first half results. Net profit rose 60% to £90mln from a year ago and net revenue increased 11% to £600mln.

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

4 hours ago