A merger is under way between two rival payment processing firms: the US-based Vantiv and the UK-based Worldpay. Vantiv has submitted a formal offer to purchase Worldpay for close to £8bn ($10.4bn). The offer was made after many weeks of negotiating terms of the deal, including the relocation of UK employees when the merger is implemented.
The deal values Worldpay’s shares at $5.16. When the deal is finalized Worldpay’s headquarters will move to Vantiv’s home, Cincinnati, Ohio, in the USA. As a single entity, the company expects it will be able to process about $1.5 trillion worth of payments and about 40 billion individual transactions per year. This should bring the company’s revenue up to about $3.2 billion/year.
Vitav has grown by leaps and bounds of late, becoming the largest payment processing company in the United States after its acquisition of Mercury Payment Systems and Moneris Solutions. The company is now ready to broaden its base in the European market with the purchase of Worldpay.
Worldpay not only processes traditional payments from brick and mortar shops; they also work in the growing e-commerce space, a market Vantiv would like access to. Due to the huge growth of spending on-line companies that facilitate online payments, like Worldpay, are ripe picks for well-established payment companies as a way for them to reach into the internet marketplace.
Vantiv predicts that the takeover will boost their annual savings to about $200million by the end of the third year. This will be offset against the cost of integrating Worldpay into Vantiv, which is expected to come to about $330 million, almost all over the first two years.