Latham & Watkins Advises on GTCR’s Completed Acquisition of a Majority Stake in Worldpay from FIS
Worldpay, LLC, a global industry leader in payments technology and solutions, has announced that it has closed upon its previously announced sale and will now operate as an independent company. The Company will be overseen by leading private equity firm GTCR, with a 55% majority ownership interest, while FIS® (NYSE: FIS), a global leader in financial services technology, will retain a 45% ownership interest. The landmark transaction, which valued Worldpay at US$18.5 billion, was the largest US leveraged buyout in 2023, according to Refinitiv.
Latham represented the debt financing sources in the transaction with a capital markets and banking team led by New York partners Stelios Saffos, Corey Wright, Alfred Xue, Lisa Collier, Conray Tseng, Nicole Fanjul, Jesse Sheff, Andrew Baker, Keith Halverstam, Senet Bischoff, Erika Weinberg, Michael Saliba, and Los Angeles partners Jason Bosworth and Jeffrey Senac, London partner Manoj Bhundia, and New York counsel Seung-Ju Paik and Preeta Paragash.
The firm also represented the initial purchasers in US$2.175 billion and £600 million senior secured notes offerings that partially funded the acquisition with a team led by Stelios Saffos and Andrew Baker, and a banking team led by Corey Wright and Lisa Collier.
In addition, Latham advised FIS on global and regulatory aspects of the transaction with a team led by New York M&A partner Gary Boss. Advice was provided on global payments regulatory matters by London partner Stuart Davis, with associates Brett Carr and Lauren Chapple; on US regulatory advice by Washington, D.C. partner Barrie VanBrackle, with associates Victor Razon and Mikhail Bushinski; on non-US regulatory matters by Hong Kong partner Simon Hawkins, with associate Adrian Fong, on corporate matters by Paris partner Charles-Antoine Guelluy; on employment matters by New York partner Bradd Williamson, London partner Sarah Gadd, Paris partner Matthias Rubner, and Munich partner Tobias Leder, with associates Jessica McIntosh and Yanis Gaoua; and on trade compliance regulatory matters Washington, D.C. partner Les Carnegie.