Worldpay has pushed the button on a flotation that could value the payments processing company at more than £6bn in the biggest UK initial public offering since 2011.
The company, chaired by the former CBI president Sir Mike Rake, ended weeks of speculation by opting for an IPO over a bid from its French rival Ingenico. Its private equity owners, Advent and Bain Capital, put the planned flotation on hold last week as Ingenico showed signs that it might increase its £6.6bn bid.
The IPO plan went back on track on Wednesday as its owners grew more concerned about the risks attached to Ingenico’s bid, which would have doubled the French company’s market capitalisation and needed shareholder approval.
The flotation will raise about £890m that Worldpay will use to reduce its debt. Advent, Bain and Worldpay’s management will cash in parts of their stakes and British employees will receive between £1,000 and £6,000 each from the sale, which will leave at least 25% of the shares publicly traded.
Worldpay processes 11.5bn payments a year online, in store and over the phone for 400,000 merchants ranging from hairdressers and restaurants to airlines and big retailers such as Tesco and Marks & Spencer. Its flotation is set to be the biggest in the UK since Glencore’s £36bn flotation in 2011.
Philip Jansen, Worldpay’s chief executive, said: “Worldpay has been transformed into a global leader in payments since it became an independent company in 2010. The IPO is an exciting and logical next step as we seek to continue this momentum. It will enable us to access new capital for growth, augment our global proposition and further enhance our ability to serve customers across the world.”
The business was sold for £2bn by Royal Bank of Scotland five years ago under orders from the European Union following its bailout by the UK government in 2008. Bain and Advent have since invested more than £1bn in improving Worldpay’s systems and have added about 2,500 employees to take its global headcount to 4,500 in 11 countries.
