Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is advising payment processor Worldpay on a proposed $43bn takeover offer by financial technology company FIS, while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has been drafted in to act for Deutsche Bank on merger talks with rival Commerzbank.
The deal, announced yesterday (18 March), will see Worldpay shareholders receive $11 in cash for each of their shares. The merger gives Worldpay an enterprise value of around $43bn, including its debt, which Florida-based FIS expects to refinance.
In a joint statement, the companies said the combination greatly enhances FIS’ payment offering and ‘significantly increases Worldpay’s distribution footprint’.
The Skadden team advising Worldpay consists of New York partners Peter Atkins, David Ingles, Sven Mickisch, Joseph Penko and London-based partner Scott Hopkins. Willkie Farr & Gallagher was enlisted to advise FIS on the deal, with a team led by US partners Robert Rachofsky and Adam Turteltaub, and in the UK by Jennifer Tait and Henrietta de Salis.
It is the second major merger Worldpay has been subject to in under two years: in September 2017 it was bought by Vantiv, creating a company with a combined value of £22.2bn. Skadden was involved that time too, assisting the Cincinnati-based Vantiv, while Allen & Overy advised Worldpay.
Later this year, Worldpay general counsel (GC) Ruwan de Soyza is set to leave for a GC and executive committee role at a FTSE 100 technology company.
Meanwhile, Freshfields and German firm Hengeler Mueller have landed roles as Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank announced last Sunday (17 March) they were in merger discussions. Nevertheless, the rival banks warned ‘there is no certainty that any transaction will occur.’
In January 2016, Freshfields advised Deutsche Bank as it sold ¥25.7bn of its Chinese assets.
Hengeler Mueller is advising Commerzbank, with a team consisting of partners Johannes Adolff, Hartwin Bungert, Daniela Favoccia, Dirk Bliesener, Lucina Berger and Martin Klein.
