UK regulator grants first-stage approval for Global Payments' $24 billion acquisition of Worldpay

Jinse Finance reported that the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved Global Payments Inc.'s plan to acquire Worldpay. The decision from the first phase review, announced on Monday, confirmed that the CMA "has approved this proposed acquisition" and determined that the merger does not raise competition concerns requiring further investigation. The deal was announced in April this year and involves a three-way swap among Global Payments Inc., Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), and private equity firm GTCR. According to the plan, Atlanta-based Global Payments Inc. will acquire Worldpay for $24.25 billion (net of tax assets, $22.7 billion), while selling its issuing solutions division (TSYS) to FIS for $13.5 billion. Company documents show that after the transaction is completed, the merged merchant acquiring division will process over 94 billion transactions annually in 175 countries and regions, with a total transaction volume of approximately $3.7 trillion.