Worldpay and Nets shares spike on takeover talks

Shares in payment processors Worldpay and Nets have surged amid widespread market chatter of takeover talks with third party suitors.

Worldpay shares were up nine percent in early trading after it confirmed that it has received separate preliminary approaches from Vantiv and JPMorgan Chase Bank in relation to the potential acquisition of the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of Worldpay. 

The news comes a day after Danish processor Nets saw its price rise by 13.8% after confirming paper talk that it has drawn interest from potential buyers and is reviewing its options. US private equity firm Hellman & Friedman is among the companies to have shown interest in Nets, Bloomberg reports.

Both companies are recent stock market debutants, having been listed by their private equity backers over the past 15 months. The bids follow a trend by PE companies to return cash-generating publicly listed companies to private hands, and with the fall in sterling Britain's top firms are an obvious target.

Worldpay shares closed 28% up on the day as analysts predicted that other potential suitors could enter the fray. “We believe Worldpay is a unique asset and the current interest from two US peers could also trigger the intention of parties like Google, Amazon, Apple,” say analysts at Mediobanca Securities.