Why Worldline Is Buying Ingenico For $8.6 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 4, 2020
  • Worldline SA recently announced it is buying Ingenico Group SA in a 7.8 billion euro ($8.6 billion) deal. These are the details about the deal.

Worldline SA recently announced it is buying Ingenico Group SA in a 7.8 billion euro ($8.6 billion) deal, according to Bloomberg. This deal will create one of the largest payment services providers.

Ingenico shareholders will receive 123.10 euros a share in cash or a mixture of cash and shares. This is 17% higher than the stock’s last closing price. And Worldline is also offering to buy bonds that are convertible into Ingenico shares. Worldline’s shareholders will own about 65% of the combined company.

Worldline and Ingenico have been considering some form of combination for several years now. And Worldline Chief Executive Officer Gilles Grapinet said during a conference call that Ingenico’s reorganization last year made it the right time to pursue a deal.

Over the last few years, Ingenico has been looking into ways to pivot from its legacy businesses, which is capturing transactions for banks or credit card companies through point-of-sales systems in stores. And in November 2018, Philippe Lazare was removed as the head of Ingenico following a decision by the board. Ingenico’s shares more than doubled over the past year since Nicolas Huss was promoted from COO to CEO.

Worldline spun out of computer services company Atos via IPO in 2014. Now Worldwide has a higher market value than Atos.

“The combination of Worldline and Ingenico offers a unique opportunity to create the undisputed European champion in payments,” explained Ingenico Chairman Bernard Bourigeaud. “This transaction comes at the time of accelerating consolidation of the industry.”