Worldpay IPO Values Firm At £4.8bn

Worldpay will float on the London Stock Exchange with a value of £4.8 billion – more than double the £2 billion it was sold for by RBS five years ago.

According to the firm’s initial public offering (IPO) documents, shares will cost £2.40 making it the biggest flotation on the exchange this year.

The company confirmed its intention to go public last month after flirting with a sale, most notably a £6.6 billion merger with French rival Ingenico Group. Once the IPO is complete, Worldpay will move into the FTSE-100.

WorldPay IPO

“Today’s announcement is a significant milestone for Worldpay,” said the firm’s chief executive, Philip Jansen. “We are proud to be a leader in global payments with a clear strategy for continued growth as a listed company. We have already invested over £1 billion in our technology, people and capabilities, helping us to become an advanced and sophisticated technology-led organisation with great potential.

“We welcome our new investors and thank them for the strong interest they have shown in the offer. We look forward to developing as a public company and all the opportunities this will bring.”

Worldpay provides payment services for 400,000 retailers in 136 countries and is the UK’s leading payment processor. It claims to typically handle 31 million transactions each day. Earlier this month it announced plans to trial the launch of facial recognition technology in a bid to cut down on card fraud.

In 2010, RBS was forced to sell the business to comply with European state aid rules following its government bailout.

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