Fiserv Buys First Data As Consolidation Heats Up Among Fintech Companies
Summary
The last deal remotely close to this size among fintech companies took place in 2017 when Vantive bought WorldPay for $10.4 billion. Fiserv provides financial services technology, including electronic bill payments and transaction processing, to banks and credit unions worldwide. Lisa Ellis, analyst at MoffettNathanson, speculated on mergers among fintech companies in a 2019 outlook report published on Jan. 10. "It is possible that the merchant acquiring market will consolidate through market share gains alone, but we also expect M&A activity, including acquisitions of small country-specific players, and potentially some further mergers among the global majors: First Data, Worldpay, Chase Paymentech, Global Payments, Adyen, Stripe, PayPal-Braintree, and Wirecard," said Ellis. Instinet analyst Dan Dolev said Fiserv acquired First Data at a price-tag lower than investors had anticipated.
