Acquisition Mad

​The start of 2019 has already proven to be an eventful year in the payments industry. With one major game changing acquisition being announced, and a bidding war for another underway.

In January our LinkedIn news feeds and payments news were inundated with the announcement of First Data being acquired by Fiserv – creating a major Global leader in the payments industry. The advantaged of this acquisition are huge. Both client bases have access to each financial services platforms, enhanced payment capabilities, competitive products and a diverse client reach. Not to mention the financial benefits to both companies across profit revenues, cash flow and cost base.

Now we are gripped by a new potential acquisition. Visa and Mastercard are back and forth bidding for the acquisition of the cross-border payments company Earth port. Visa have now increased their initial offer from £198 million to a £247 million offer, after Mastercard interjected offering £233 million.

We are yet to see a further bid from Mastercard since Visa made their new announcement, but Mastercard’s initial response has been to ask Earth port to take no hasty actions and not to accept Visa’s offer whilst they negotiate their options.

It is certainly worth keeping an eye on over the coming weeks.