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Vantiv bids to buy Worldpay for nearly $10B

July 6, 2017

According to multiple media reports, merchant acquirer Vantiv Inc. has agreed to buy U.K.-based processor Worldpay Group PLC for $9.9 billion.

The acquisition would allow Vantiv to achieve scale rapidly in the e-commerce market, a Reuters report said. JPMorgan Chase & Co. also had sought to purchase Worldpay, and other companies still could seek to make a bid, the report said.

"We believe Worldpay is a unique asset and the current interest from two U.S. peers could also trigger the intention of parties like Google, Amazon and Apple," an analyst at Mediobanca Securities wrote in a note.

Worldpay was formed in 1989 by the Royal Bank of Scotland, and spun off in 2010. The company owns a significant share of the e-commerce payments market, Reuters said. The company serves 400,000 merchants in 146 countries.

Vantiv, has a market capitalization of more than $12 billion. The company recently bought Moneris Solutions USA for $425 million.