Ashurst is advising Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc and Credit Suisse International in relation to the £9.3 billion recommended merger of Worldpay plc ('Worldpay') with Vantiv LLC ('Vantiv') and Vantiv UK Limited (a newly incorporated subsidiary of Vantiv LLC) ('Bidco'), which announced today (9 August 2017). It is intended that the merger will be implemented by means of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement.

Vantiv is a leading payment processor in the US, originally operated as a business unit of Fifth Third Bank, before becoming a listed company in the US in March 2012. Worldpay is a leader in global payment services, which was established as a business unit within RBS before being bought out by Advent and Bain Capital in 2010. It floated in October 2015. The combined company will become a leading international eCommerce payment provider, and a leading US, UK and European payment provider, processing approximately US$1.5 trillion in payment volume and 40 billion transactions annually through more than 300 payment methods in 146 countries and 126 currencies with a combined net revenue of over US$3.2 billion.

Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc and Credit Suisse International are acting as financial advisers to Vantiv and Bidco in relation to the Merger.

The Ashurst team was led by partners Mark Vickers, Karen Davies and Tim Rennie, assisted by senior associates Campbell Johnston, Darren Phelan, Fiona Palamarczuk and Marianna Kennedy.

Ashurst has previously advised Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS as arrangers of the senior debt package supporting Advent International and Bain Capital’s £2.025 billion buyout of Worldpay from Royal Bank of Scotland in 2010.

This is also the second deal on which the firm has advised in the payment services sector in the last week, having also advised Credit Suisse International in relation to the £2.96 billion recommended cash offer for Paysafe Group plc by PI UK Bidco Limited (a newly formed company jointly-owned by a consortium of funds managed by Blackstone and funds managed and/or advised by CVC).