Vantiv, the largest acquirer in the U.S. based on transaction processing volume, is now a significant global competitor as well, following the $9.9 billion dollar acquisition of UK-based WorldPay, who has over 400,000 processing clients across 146 countries.
It was announced on July 5th that Vantiv would acquire global processor WorldPay for $9.9 (£7.7) billion in the form of cash, a converted rate of shares to Vantiv and a cash dividend with total value representing an 18.9 percent premium compared to the closing price for WorldPay on Monday July 3rd.
Vantiv is in the top tier of processors by market share in the United States, processing 25 billion transactions with total dollar volume of $930 billion in 2016, growing their client base significantly since spinning off as a publicly traded company in 2012. This has primarily been through major acquisitions, such as Moneris Solutions Corporation for $425 million at the end of 2016, Mercury Payment Systems for $1.7 billion in 2014, and Litle & Co. for $361 million in 2012.
There’s several similarities between the two processors. Vantiv, was originally Fifth Third Processing Solutions, but was spun off by the bank, renamed Vantiv and taken public in 2012. WorldPay, formerly RBS WorldPay, was spun off and became privately held, before becoming a publicly listed company in the UK in 2010.
Each company already has significant market share today, the primary difference being Vantiv is primarily U.S.-based clients whereas WorldPay generates about one-quarter of their revenue in the United States. Both organizations have a substantial eCommerce presence, with WorldPay’s eCommerce volume growing 22 percent in 2016 to £386.6 ($502) million, more than one-third of their total payments revenue.
Another major U.S. acquirer, JP Morgan Chase, also had interest in acquiring WorldPay, according to the company.
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