Visa announced an increased bid for Earthport to £247 million as it fights with Mastercard to claim the companies assets.
Visa increase bid for Earthport to £247 million
Last month, Mastercard offered around £233 million for the assets but Visa has now trumped that with its latest offer of 37p per share, 23% more than its original bid.
Earthport’s shares have grown by more than five-fold since Visa’s initial offer and rose to 42p in the wake of the card network’s latest bid on Friday.
The global payment network has advised shareholders to accept this latest offer, despite previously recommending that the Mastercard deal was accepted.
“Earthport can complement the development of Visa’s payment solutions and intends to use its resources to help Earthport grow,” Visa said.
Rivals Mastercard encouraged Earthport shareholders to take “no action” to the Visa bid, while it considers its options.
Both Visa and Mastercard have cited the same reason for their interest in Earthport – the deal would allow it to expand its cross-border network service.
Payment processing has become one of the hottest areas for deal making in the last two years, driven by technological changes in the way consumers pay for products.
The post Visa increase bid for Earthport to £247 million fending off Mastercard appeared first on Payments Cards & Mobile.
