Worldline To Purchase Rival Ingenico In $8.6B Deal

Two European payments behemoths — Worldline and Ingenico — are merging in an $8.6 billion deal to create the industry’s fourth-largest company in the space, according to numerous reports on Monday (Feb. 3).

France’s Worldline is purchasing rival Ingenico in a deal encompassing 81 percent stock and 19 percent cash. The transaction gives Ingenico an implied equity value of 7.8 billion euros ($8.6 billion).

In the biggest deal so far in 2020, the combined firm creates the fourth-largest payments firm in the world, with projected 2019 net revenues of €5.3 billion. 

Worldline Chief Executive Officer Gilles Grapinet will head the new firm as CEO. Ingenico Chairman Bernard Bourigeaud is anticipated to be named a non-executive chairman.

The deal is anticipated to close in the third quarter of 2020, with Grapinet saying it is a “landmark transaction for the industrial consolidation of European payments.”

The merger offers Worldline a chance “to reinforce its European leadership,” while achieving a “more diversified portfolio than its U.S. peers,” said the research firm Bryan, Garnier & Co.

Bourigeaud said the takeover “offers a unique opportunity to create the undisputed European champion in payments on par with the largest international players.”

The combined firm will employ 20,000 people in 50 countries with 1 million merchant and 1,200 financial institution customers.

“We do see a lot happening in our world from a competitive perspective,” Nick Tubb, head of commercial affairs for Ingenico’s eCommerce payments arm, told CNBC in an interview late last year. “We see advanced consolidation in the market with lots of value being created.”

So far in 2020, mergers and deal-making in payments, specifically within digital payments and FinTech, are sizzling. The biggest one, so far, of course, has been Visa inking a deal to purchase FinTech firm Plaid for $5.3 billion.

Separately, in a deal tied to a “blank check” company, Far Point said it had struck a $2.6 billion merger with Swiss firm Global Blue — which in turn will list on the New York Stock Exchange.