Worldpay expects merger with Vantiv to complete in mid-January 2018
Since the merger was announced, Vantiv and Worldpay have made good progress on all aspects of the transaction and integration planning has started.
Worldpay Group PLC (LON:WPG) has earlier today provided an update on the planned merger with Vantiv.
Since the deal was announced in August this year, Vantiv and Worldpay have made nice progress on various aspects of the transaction and integration planning has begun. Vantiv and Worldpay anticipate that their respective shareholder meetings will be convened in early January 2018 and it is expected that the merger will complete in mid-January 2018, subject to, inter alia, the necessary shareholder approvals.
In early August this year, the boards of directors of Vantiv and Worldpay announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended merger of Worldpay with Vantiv and Vantiv UK Limited (a subsidiary of Vantiv). Under the terms of the merger, Worldpay shareholders will be entitled to receive 55 pence in cash for each Worldpay share held and 0.0672 of a new Vantiv share for each Worldpay share held.
The combined company was estimated to have a pro forma enterprise value of approximately £22.2 billion. Upon completion of the merger, Worldpay shareholders are set to own approximately 43%, and Vantiv shareholders are set to own approximately 57% of the combined company (on a fully diluted basis).
The companies explained the rationale for the deal via the changes in the payments landscape. In particular, merchants and consumers are continuously looking for new and innovative solutions to enable commerce as payments move into the digital world. That is why, the combined company will seek to be a leading global omni-commerce payments provider.
Vantiv believes that the merger will generate synergies that could not be achieved independently of the deal and which will lead to substantial value creation for all shareholders. Vantiv anticipates that the Merger will lead to annual recurring pre-tax cost synergies of approximately US$200 million. The synergies are expected to be fully realised by the end of the third year following completion of the merger.
Following completion of the merger, Cincinnati, Ohio will be the combined company’s global and corporate headquarters and London, UK, will become its international headquarters. The combined entity will be named “Worldpay”.
