Worldpay prices IPO at 240p per share

Payments processing specialist Worldpay today became the biggest flotation in the City this year when it listed on the London Stock Exchange at a value of £4.8 billion.

The IPO pricing comes after the Financial Times reported on Friday that Worldpay’s USA private equity owners Advent global and Bain Capital had narrowed the price range for the float from between 225p and 260p per share, to between 235p and 250p, after the payment processor had attracted enough investor orders.

Prime Minister David Cameron added: “It’s fantastic news that Worldpay has listed on the London Stock Exchange today – the largest ever UK FinTech initial public offering”.

Worldpay processes about 31 million mobile, online and in-store transactions every day.

Ingenico Group of France, private-equity bidders including Blackstone Group and Hellman & Friedman, as well as German payments processor Wirecard AG were among those competing to acquire Worldpay and had valued it at about 6 billion pounds, people familiar with the matter have said.

“Ensuring that the UK’s fastest growing and most innovative finance and technology companies have access to equity capital is a priority for London Stock Exchange”.

Worldpay said the IPO would raise total proceeds of about 2.16 billion pounds, with the company receiving around 948 million.

Advent and Bain Capital bought Worldpay from Royal Bank of Scotland Plc in 2010 for 1.7 billion pounds.

As of the end of September, the London stock market had welcomed 93 flotations raising £5.3bn this year, a significant drop from the £11bn generated from 136 listings in the same period last year, according to Reuters.

British insurer Hastings Group’s shares fell below the IPO price of 170 pence on the LSE yesterday.

Worldpay made underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £375m previous year, up from £346m in 2013.