Worldpay’s Global Payments Deal Cleared by UK Antitrust Watchdog

Worldpay’s $24.3 billion deal with Global Payments Inc. to create a payment processing behemoth avoided a deeper investigation as the UK watchdog found the deal will not weaken competition in the UK.

The Competition and Markets Authority said on Monday that it cleared the anticipated acquisition. The CMA started the initial merger probe in September after the deal was announced in April.

Global Payments acquired the 45% stake in Worldpay from Fidelity National Information Services Inc. and simultaneously agreed to purchase the 55% stake held by private equity firm GTCR LLC. The sale of Worldpay is expected to ...