UK payment processor WorldPay is to press ahead with a flotation on the London Stock Exchange, snubbing a potential £6.6 billion takeover offer from French outfit Ingenico.
WorldPay's private equity owners Bain Capital and Advent had stalled on an expected IPO announcement last week as Ingenico expressed its interest. Today's decision to press on with an October IPO will propel WorldPay straight into the FTSE, and raise about £890m to pay off debt and re-invest the business.
WorldPay has gone from strength to strength since it was flogged off at the bargain-basement price of £2 billion by Royal Bank of Scotland five years ago as part of bail out terms ordered by the European Union.
The company now employs 4500 people - double the numbers under RBS ownership - and recently reported half-yearly revenue and profits of £465.7m and £182.6m respectively. On a typical day, it processes approximately 31 million mobile, online and in-store transactions worldwide, supporting 400,000 merchants
Philip Jansen, Worldpay CEO says: "We have invested over £1bn in our technology, people and capabilities including over £400m in a state of the art global payments acquiring engine as well as in the recruitment of approximately 2500 highly skilled colleagues. 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."