Ahead of its impending initial public offering, payments processor Worldpay has had its pricing range trimmed a bit by its private equity owners, Bain Capital and Advent International.
Reuters reported Friday (Oct. 9) that the top end of the offering range was taken down to 250 pence a share, down from 260 pence, while the “floor,” or bottom end, got a boost, from 225 pence to 235 pence. The newswire cited two unnamed sources as providing information related to the pricing range.
One anonymous source informed Reuters that the company is determined to grab a market capitalization of roughly £4.9 billion, or $7.5 billion. As reported earlier this year, that would ensure the firm comes to market with the biggest offering on the U.K. stock exchange this year. That new range would square with recent speculation that Worldpay would look to secure a valuation within a range of £4.5 billion to as much as £5.2 billion.
The two private equity firms, Advent and Bain, took Worldpay private five years ago from Royal Bank of Scotland for roughly £2 billion.
The firm has also been a takeout target but has clearly opted to go the public route, having chosen to rebuff an offer from French firm Ingenico Group, for a total consideration (equity plus debt) of as much as £6.6 billion. Amid the reports of acquisitions and listings, the company has been busy growing its global footprint.
Should Worldpay indeed come public, it would do so against a relatively anemic IPO market in the United Kingdom with a little more than 90 firms coming public thus far in 2015. That group raised £5.3 billion through the end of the third quarter, versus about £11 billion received through 136 listings through the third quarter of 2014. That decline year over year comes as global stock markets have seen rough volatility against fears over economic growth from China and the timing of a U.S. interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.
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