Thursday, July 6, 2023

GTCR Buys Majority Stake in WorldPay from FIS


An FIS SEC filing stated:

FIS has signed a definitive agreement to sell a majority stake in its Worldpay Merchant Solutions business to private equity funds managed by GTCR in a transaction valuing Worldpay at $18.5 billion, including $1 billion of consideration contingent on the returns realized by GTCR exceeding certain thresholds. 

FIS purchased WorldPay for $43 billion in 2019.  That's a $24.5 billion write down.  This should cast doubt on hefty fintech corporate valuations.

Buyer GTCR invests in four areas:  financial services/fintech, healthcare, business/consumer services and telecom, media and communication technology. 

The private equity underwriter (PEU) recently round tripped fintech Paya.  GTCR bought Paya in 2017, took it public in 2020.  Paya went private again in 2023 after PEU backed Nuvei purchased it in a $1.3 billion deal.

GTCR exited LifeCare Management Services in August 2005 just prior to Hurricane Katrina's landfall.  Twenty six LifeCare patients died in Katrina's aftermath, the highest hospital death toll.  New owner The Carlyle Group and LifeCare avoided any mention in the White House Lessons Learned report.   That omission precipitated my return to blogging and starting PEU Report.

If common people were going to get short shrift from politically connected PEUs I would chronicle it. The cycle continues.