The FIS saga with merchant business Worldpay has taken another turn. FIS acquired Worldpay for $43 billion in 2019, only to announce plans to spin it off as a stand-alone company earlier this year, writing off $17.6 billion in doing so.
Now, FIS is selling a 55% stake in Worldpay to private-equity firm GTCR for $11.7 billion.
The deal values Worldpay at $18.5 billion. In a news release announcing the deal, FIS said it would retain 45% ownership in Worldpay, that Chicago-based GTCR has committed to up to $1.25 billion in growth capital, and that Charles Drucker will be the CEO of Worldpay upon the transaction’s closing. Drucker, Worldpay’s former CEO, had been tabbed to lead the company again when the spin-off was announced in February.
Debt Reduction
In December 2022, FIS announced a strategic review of the company’s business, prompted by pressure from investors D.E. Shaw and Jana Partners. Amid that review, FIS has been paring its debt. The deal with GTCR will leave FIS with $10 billion in debt after the transaction closes, according to Reuters.
At the end of March, FIS had a total debt of $20 billion.
The Initial Acquisition
When FIS acquired Worldpay, it was a blockbuster deal amid a spate of attention-getting acquisitions, including Fiserv’s $22 billion purchase of First Data and Global Payments’ deal, at $21.5 billion, for TSYS. The industrywide trend was consolidation.
In the Javelin Strategy & Research report Where Will the FIS Spin-off Leave Worldpay?, analyst Daniel Keyes looked at the factors compelling FIS to make the initial acquisition—among them the opportunity to increase cross-selling opportunities with clients of both businesses—as well as those driving the spin-off four years later.
“This outcome for the FIS-Worldpay deal should not lead payment technology companies to avoid all large acquisitions, but it should cause these firms to seriously consider if they’re targeting a firm just to add new services and revenue or if they’re truly complementary and enable significant growth,” Keyes said Thursday.
Wall Street Reacts
FIS stock closed at $59.80 on Wednesday and fell sharply Thursday as news of the sale to GTCR broke. At this writing, the stock price was climbing again.
In sum, the Worldpay acquisition—and all that has spun from it—has proved costly to FIS. In the release announcing the sale to GTCR, FIS cast the move as another step in creating two “highly focused independent companies,” a path different from the one it charted in 2019.
“The agreement will enable greater management focus and operational simplification for both FIS and Worldpay,” the release noted. “In addition, the upfront cash proceeds will create immediate capital allocation flexibility. FIS will use proceeds from the sale to pay down debt and return additional capital to shareholders through its existing share repurchase authorization, as well as for general corporate purposes, while maintaining a strong investment grade credit rating.”
