Worldpay Deal Creates Multibillion Payments Giant
Payment firms FIS (FIS) and Worldpay (WP) have agreed to merge in a sign of the ongoing consolidation in the growing financial payment sector.
Worldpay shareholders will receive 0.9287 of a FIS share, plus $11.00 in cash, for each share of Worldpay. Shareholders of New York-listed FIS will own 53% of the enlarged company and Worldpay shareholders 47%.
The deal values London and New York-listed Worldpay at $43 billion, including its debt. Worldpay shares are up nearly 10% in New York on Monday, and up by a similar amount in London.
"Scale matters in our rapidly changing industry," said Gary Norcross, chair and chief executive officer of FIS. "Upon closing later this year, our two powerhouse organisations will combine forces to offer a customer-driven combination of scale, global presence and the industry's broadest range of global financial solutions."
Norcross will remain in his current roles within the new company, while Worldpay executive Chair and CEO Charles Drucker will become executive vice chair.
Drucker said: "At Worldpay, our focus has always been on delivering more value to our clients and partners and making decisions that achieve our growth and performance objectives. Combining with FIS helps us accelerate the achievement of that, now benefiting from new scale and capabilities that will truly differentiate the company globally.
"We are proud to become part of one of the financial services industry's most respected and consistently performing companies, and I am excited about the new opportunities this brings both for the business and our colleagues worldwide."
The company will continue to be called FIS and be headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.
Morningstar analyst in February Brett Horn said he expected further M&A in the sector.
Worldpay is a leading provider of payment processing services for merchants, and holds leading positions in the US and the UK The company processes about 42 billion transactions and $1.6 trillion in payment volume annually. Worldpay also operates a business that provides debit and credit card processing for banks, which handled 3.5 billion transactions in 2017
