PE-backed WorldPay to list in October

Greg Gille
@unquotenews
18 September 2015

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WorldPay, a payments business owned by Bain Capital and Advent International, has announced it will list on the London Stock Exchange in October, with plans to raise £890m.

The company intends to use the proceeds to reduce leverage, with the aim to reach a 3.75x EBITDA net debt multiple. The IPO will also allow shareholders to partially realise their investments, although they will be subjected to an estimated 180-day lock-up period.

With a planned free-float of 25%, Worldpay should become eligible for inclusion in the FTSE 100 index.

Advent and Bain acquired the card payment service provider (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, including a dividend recap for the private equity owners, in 2013. The refinancing package was broken down in 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.

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