PE-backed WorldPay lists in largest London IPO of 2015

Greg Gille
13 October 2015

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WorldPay, a payments business owned by Bain Capital and Advent International, has listed on the London Stock Exchange with a ТЃ4.8bn market cap.

The company priced its shares at 240 pence apiece, raising total gross proceeds of £2.16bn. WorldPay is set to see a £947m windfall from this, with selling shareholders – including Advent, Bain, management and employees – reaping £1.2bn.

WorldPay's institutional backers retain a 48.7% stake with a 180-day lock-up, with 45% in free float. Unconditional dealings will commence on 16 October.

Prior to the flotation, the company intended to use the proceeds to reduce leverage, with the aim to reach a 3.75x EBITDA net debt multiple.

Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley acted as joint global coordinators. They also acted as joint bookrunners alongside Barclays, Credit Suisse and UBS. Jefferies and Mediobanca were mandated as co-lead managers, with Canaccord Genuity and Pacific Crest acting as co-managers. Lazard advised WorldPay.

Previous funding
Advent and Bain acquired the card payment service (then RBS WorldPay) from the Royal Bank of Scotland for an enterprise value of £2.025bn in 2010.

The deal, which also included a £200m contingent consideration, saw RBS retain a 19.9% stake in the company, with the private equity investors splitting the remainder. The investments came from Advent's GPE VI fund, and Bain's Fund X and Bain Capital Europe III.

WorldPay secured a £700m refinancing in 2013, including a dividend recap for the private equity owners. The refinancing package was broken down into several denominations, with £250m raised in sterling, £137.5m raised in euros and £312.5m raised in dollars. The new loans were at the time thought to be maturing in 2019. Around £340m of the new facility was believed to have been used to pay a dividend.

Company
WorldPay offers payments processing technology and services for merchant customers. It was founded in 1989 and is based in London.

WorldPay generated £863.4m in revenues and EBITDA of £374.7m in 2014.

People
Philip Jansen is chief executive officer of Worldpay.