The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has formally launched an investigation into Global Payments’ planned acquisition of Worldpay.
In a notice published Tuesday, the regulator said the merger notice submitted by the companies meets the requirements of the Enterprise Act 2002.
The statutory review period will begin on September 17, with the CMA required to decide by November 11 whether to clear the transaction or refer it for a more detailed Phase 2 probe.
The move marks a step up from July, when the CMA issued only a preliminary invitation to comment as it considered whether the deal might reduce competition in U.K. payments markets. At that time, the authority stressed it had not yet launched a formal investigation.
The Atlanta-based Global Payments agreed in April to acquire Worldpay from Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) and private equity firm GTCR.
The net purchase price was set at $22.7 billion, giving the deal a total value of $24.25 billion. As part of the transaction, Global Payments also struck a $13.5 billion deal to divest its Issuer Solutions business to FIS, the Jacksonville, Florida-based financial products and services company.
The CMA’s decision to proceed with a formal inquiry signals closer scrutiny of the tie-up between two major players in global payments.
If the deal goes through, it would merge Worldpay’s strong position in online and enterprise payments with Global Payments’ focus on small and mid-sized businesses. Together, the combined company would handle payments for more than six million clients and process roughly 94 billion transactions annually in over 175 countries.
According to a company statement from earlier this year, the business would generate around $12.5 billion in adjusted net revenue and $6.5 billion in adjusted core earnings.
Global Payments has been reshaping its portfolio in recent times, divesting smaller units as part of an effort to streamline operations and lift returns.
