Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
FIS Inc. is talking to the private-equity firm GTCR LLC about taking a majority stake in the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company’s merchant-processing business, according to a report late Monday from Reuters. The report indicates the talks are “advanced” and value the stake at between $15 billion and $20 billion.
The latest report follows earlier indications FIS was working to sell a portion of the business in a move that would represent a pivot away from the company’s intention, announced in February, to spin off the division as an independent company. The merchant unit consists mostly of the Worldpay business, which FIS acquired in 2019 for $43 billion. The merchant unit ranks second to JPMorgan Chase in U.S. processing volume and behind only Fiserv Inc. and Global Payments Inc. in merchant count, according to numbers from the research firm TSG.
A representative for FIS said the company does not comment “on market rumors or speculation.” A representative for Chicago-based GTCR could not be reached for comment.
FIS surprised the payments industry in February with its announcement that it was preparing to spin off its merchant division within the following 12 months. The announcement, part of a quarterly earnings call held on short notice, stunned Wall Street, which clipped FIS’s stock by $10 per share within an hour after the call.
The original plan followed a strategic review at FIS that concluded the company could not invest adequately in the unit to foster growth. The planned divestiture of Worldpay and other processing assets would have left FIS with two other business units, capital markets, its largest division, and banking. Charles Drucker, a former Worldpay chief executive, had been tapped to take over as CEO of what would have been the newly divested unit.
