GTCR is Global Payments’ largest shareholder, according to the report.
The companies’ talks are ongoing, and may not result in a deal, per the report.
CD&R declined the FT’s request to comment on the claims, while neither GTCR not Global Payments responded to the FT, according to the report.
Reached by PYMNTS, GTCR declined to comment on the report. Global Payments did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
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Global Payments has an enterprise value of about $40 billion, and a leveraged buyout of the firm would be one of the largest such deals in history, according to the FT report.
As of Friday afternoon, Global Payments had a market capitalization of $23 billion and net debt of $17 billion, the report said.
The buyout talks come at a time when Global Payments’ shares are near their lowest level in a decade. The company’s shares dropped as investors criticized its 2025 deal to buy Worldpay from GTCR in a cash and stock deal valued at over $24 billion, per the report.
Investment banking, investment management and private wealth firm William Blair wrote in a Friday note to investors that if the reported deal happens, it would likely signal another wave of mergers and acquisitions that could leave the market without public traditional FinTechs.
“This is a plausible outcome is Global is acquired, in our opinion, in light of the widening gap between public and private valuations,” the authors of the William Blair note said.
PYMNTS reported in April 2025 that Global Payments’ acquisition of Worldpay was one of two “sweeping transactions” announced that day by Global Payments and by Worldpay’s co-owner FIS.
Global Payments said it bought Worldpay for a net price of $22.7 billion and simultaneously sold its Issuer Solutions business to FIS for $13.5 billion. Worldpay was co-owned by FIS and GTCR.
With these deals, Global Payments planned to fully exit the issuer processing field, turn that operation over to FIS and double down on merchant solutions. The company said the agreements would sharpen its focus on merchant solutions at scale.
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