Market report: Worldpay shares charge as US suitors eye £7bn takeover tilt

FTSE 100 listed Worldpay has been approached about a takeover
Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
Jamie Nimmo4 July 2017

After a few dry months, deal-hungry traders had a meaty takeover to feed on as Worldpay confirmed it had received bid approaches.

The rumour mill was in full flow in early trading as financial site Wall Street Wires suggested payments processor Worldpay had received offers, hot on the heels of news that Danish rival Nets is in talks with suitors.

There was clearly more than just mere speculation as the share price rocketed past normal levels on bid rumours, prompting the company to rush out a statement.

Worldpay said it had had preliminary approaches from US credit cards processing firm Vantiv and Wall Street banking behemoth JPMorgan Chase, but added there was no certainty of firm offers being made.

The share price continued to make strong gains after Worldpay’s statement, up 46.5p, or 15%, to 366p, valuing the company at over £7 billion.

Nets and Worldpay have more in common than just being payments services firms. Both were bought out by private-equity firms Advent and Bain before being floated on the stock market in Copenhagen and London respectively.

The private-equity pair floated Worldpay in 2015 and repeatedly leaked their shares onto the market, dumping their last remaining shares in February.

The takeover story injected life into an otherwise dull market as the FTSE 100 drifted 17.57 points lower to 7359.52, tracking overnight falls in Asia. Markets in the US were closed for July 4 celebrations.

Declines from the copper price prevented the oil price rise from leaving its mark on the blue-chip index, although Brent’s impact was limited as the price slipped as the session wore on, down 23 cents at $49.45 a barrel.

Oil services firm Hunting rose 5.2p to 496.5p after its first-half trading update. While it will remain loss making in the first six months, it said it had benefited from the shale gas boom in the US.

Troubled gold miner Acacia Mining lost more ground as the Tanzanian government rushed through new laws to enable it to renegotiate deals with miners. Earlier this year, Tanzania banned exports on gold concentrates, hammering Acacia’s shares. Today they fell 4.2p to 283.1p.

Finally, cars dealer Marshall Motors revved up 10.6p to 147.6p after a better first half than expected. It comes despite a tough cars market in the wake of the Brexit vote.