GAMBLING INSIDER

American credit card company Vantiv have announced the agreement of an £8bn deal to purchase British payment processing firm Worldpay.

The combined business will trade under the name Worldpay Inc., with Vantiv boss Charles Drucker as executive chairman and co-CEO, while Worldpay’s Philip Jansen will act as co-CEO, reporting directly to Drucker.

Worldpay Inc will be headquartered in Cincinnati, with stock market listings on both Wall Street’s NASDAQ and the London Stock Exchange.

The mechanics of the deal, which is valued at 397p per share, include a 55p cash payment, an interim dividend of 0.8p, a special 4.2p dividend, and company shareholders will be given 0.0672 of a new share in Vantiv. In the wake of the deal's agreement, shares in Worldpay closed at 388.5p per share, rising 1.28% from the same time on Tuesday.

In a joint statement announcing the monster deal, Drucker said: “Our combination is transformative for our colleagues, customers and the worldwide payments industry.

“We would not be here without the enthusiasm, dedication and hard work of all our people, who will continue to forge the future of payments. By combining the expertise of our teams, we will provide further value to our customers, helping them prosper in the fast-changing and complex digital economy.”

With combined net revenue of over $3.2bn, the companies process over 40 billion transactions utilising more than 300 payment methods, across 146 countries and 126 global currencies.

The finalised deal will create a transatlantic payments business worth an estimated $31bn (£23bn), processing over US$1.5 trillion (£1.1 trillion) in payment volume.

Five Worldpay directors will serve on the board of the combined company, with Mike Rake, Worldpay’s non-executive chairman, becoming lead director. Current Vantiv CFO Stephanie Ferris will become the new CFO of Worldpay Inc, also reporting to executive chairman Charles Drucker.

Philip Jansen, new co-CEO of the combined Worldpay Inc. business added: “The new senior leadership team is in place and has already begun to implement our plan to integrate the two businesses, delivering new value for customers, realising cost synergies and capturing revenue opportunities that will benefit our shareholders.

"This will be evidenced as Worldpay creates customer-centric innovation at scale, leveraging our combined operations, technology infrastructure and data and analytics capabilities. Charles and I look forward to delivering this value to our customers across the world.”