US firm FIS buys Worldpay for a heady $34bn as fintech booms
The deal values the payment processor at about $43bn, including debt
New York — Fidelity National Information Services Inc (FIS) agreed to buy Worldpay for about $35bn on Monday, with the US financial services provider striking the biggest deal to date in the fast-growing electronic payments industry. The financial technology sector is consolidating fast, with global payments set to reach $3-trillion a year in revenue by 2023 as more people switch from cash to digital payments for online and high street sales, consulting firm McKinsey predicts. “Scale matters in our rapidly changing industry,” said FIS CEO Gary Norcross, who will lead the combined powerhouse in banking and payments infrastructure. Growth in payment systems has kept deals rolling even as merger moves in other sectors have stalled on concerns about trade tensions and a global economic slowdown. The FIS deal, valuing Worldpay at about $43bn including debt, comes a little more than a year after US firm Vantiv paid $10.63bn for the payments firm, which was set up in Britain and spun off f...
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