PARIS, March 18 ― US financial technology giant FIS will acquire British payment processing company Worldpay for an estimated US$43 billion (RM175.3 billion), the two firms said today, creating an international payments powerhouse.

The announcement was billed as a merger but will see FIS shareholders take a 53 per cent stake in the combined group, while Worldpay investors will have 47 per cent.

When the deal is finalised in the second half of 2019, the company will retain the name FIS, the firms said in a joint statement.

It will be based at the Jacksonville, Florida headquarters of FIS, previously known as Fidelity National Information Services.

Seven of the company’s 12 board members will be from FIS, with the other five from Worldpay.

Gary Norcross, chairman, president and CEO of FIS, will take the helm of the company.

"Scale matters in our rapidly changing industry,” Norcross said in the statement.

"Upon closing later this year, our two powerhouse organisations will combine forces to offer a customer-driven combination of scale, global presence and the industry’s broadest range of global financial solutions.”

Worldpay CEO Charles Drucker, who will become vice chairman, said the merger would lead to "new scale and capabilities that will truly differentiate the company globally”.

Worldpay processes more than 40 billion transactions a year across 146 countries in more than 120 currencies.

The two companies had combined sales of US$12.3 billion last year, and they forecast growth of six to nine per cent through 2021. ― AFP