This $8.6 Billion Fintech Is Not Quite Cheap Enough
Worldline’s investors don’t like its bid for struggling payments peer Ingenico. But they’d have to overpay even more for a higher quality target.
Real money.
Photographer: Gallo Images/Gallo Images EditorialConsolidation in the digital payments industry has traditionally meant bold deals to buy fast-growing assets at sky-high valuations — with the acquirers often cheered on blindly by investors. Worldline SA has chosen a different path: A modestly expensive deal to buy struggling French peer Ingenico Group SA. Shareholders have frowned. Worldline Chief Executive Officer Gilles Grapinet must be wishing he’d stuck with convention.
Ingenico has been a bid target for some time. It is weighed down by a handheld terminals business and has been playing catch-up in online payments. Late 2018 brought a management and strategy reset with the appointment of former Visa executive Nicolas Huss as CEO. Natixis SA, a French bank, dropped plans for a possible takeover not long afterwards, sending Ingenico shares to just 45 euros apiece. Just over a year later, Worldline is offering a combination of cash and its own stock that’s worth 123.10 euros a share based on its last closing price. That values Ingenico’s equity at 7.8 billion euros ($8.6 billion).