Global Payments Completes $24.25 Billion Worldpay Acquisition, Divests Issuer Solutions to FIS

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) announced on January 12, 2026 that it had completed its acquisition of Worldpay from FIS and GTCR, alongside the divestiture of its Issuer Solutions business to FIS, closing out a transaction the company says transforms it into a pure-play commerce solutions provider serving clients from small businesses to global enterprises.

How the Deal Was Structured

Under the structure set out at the April 2025 announcement, Global Payments agreed to acquire Worldpay from GTCR and FIS for a total of $24.25 billion while divesting its Issuer Solutions business to FIS for $13.5 billion, according to FinTech Futures. The Issuer Solutions divestiture was structured as cash plus FIS' 45% stake in Worldpay, valued at $6.6 billion. Global Payments said it would use that cash, alongside a new $7.7 billion debt issuance and stock, to acquire the remaining Worldpay stake from GTCR, FinTech Futures reported.

As part of the final structure, GTCR will hold approximately a 15% stake in Global Payments' equity following the close, a detail confirmed in GTCR's own announcement and echoed by FinTech Weekly and Slaughter and May, which advised Global Payments on the deal. The arrangement lets GTCR participate in any value created from synergy achievement and growth of the combined business.

Scale of the Combined Business

Global Payments said the combined company will serve more than 6 million merchant locations, processing $3.7 trillion in payment volume and approximately 94 billion transactions annually across more than 175 countries. Chief executive officer Cameron Bready said combining with Worldpay "expands our capabilities and increases our geographic reach while providing additional, complementary distribution channels," adding that the combination multiplies what's possible for clients and partners.

The company plans to invest more than $1 billion annually to drive innovation across three go-to-market channels: Enterprise, SMB, and Integrated & Platforms, each with tailored sales strategies and distinct product roadmaps, according to the completion announcement.

Regulatory Path to Close

The deal cleared its final major regulatory hurdles in the months before closing. FinTech Weekly reported that the UK's Competition and Markets Authority completed its initial review on October 22 and concluded the acquisition would not weaken competition. The same outlet reported that on December 2, EU regulators delivered a decision mirroring the UK position, clearing the path toward the January close.

Financial Context Ahead of Closing

Global Payments entered the deal with Worldpay carrying a notable history: FIS first bought Worldpay in 2019 for a reported $34 billion, according to Bloomberg, as cited by FinTech Futures. At announcement, Global Payments projected the transaction would deliver approximately $600 million in annual cost synergies over three years and roughly $200 million in revenue synergies, per FinTech Futures' reporting.

FinTech Weekly separately noted the combined entity's expected revenue of about $12.5 billion and adjusted core earnings of $6.5 billion as illustrative of the scale Global Payments aims to achieve post-close.

In the run-up to closing, Global Payments' own results showed the transaction's effects working through its books. The company's second-quarter operating income, factoring in the issuer business sale, slid 10% to $427.2 million as revenue declined 7.6% to $1.96 billion, according to its quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as reported by Payments Dive. Net income for the quarter, including the accounting impact of the transactions, shrank by about a third to $241.6 million.

Global Payments said it expects to maintain its investment grade credit ratings and reduce adjusted net leverage to 3.0x within 18 to 24 months of completing the transaction.

Signals on Further Portfolio Changes

During the company's second-quarter earnings call, before the deal closed, CEO Cameron Bready told analysts that Global Payments was "reevaluating portfolio composition decisions" made earlier in light of the Worldpay acquisition and the company's expected strategic focus and vertical exposure once the deal closed, according to Payments Dive's reporting. That comment suggested the company may consider selling additional business units beyond Issuer Solutions as it reshapes around its new pure-play commerce focus, though no specific further divestitures have been confirmed.

Bottom Line

Global Payments has now closed one of the payments industry's largest recent transactions, reshaping itself around merchant-facing commerce solutions while handing its issuer-processing business to FIS. The company's own targets, including investment-grade ratings and reduced leverage within roughly two years, alongside the sizable projected synergies reported by trade outlets, will be the benchmarks against which the integration gets judged in coming quarters. Investors and competitors alike will be watching whether Global Payments pursues the further portfolio changes CEO Bready flagged, and how the GTCR equity stake and FIS relationship evolve as the newly combined company scales toward its stated reach of 175-plus countries.