Fidelity National says TSS buy on track despite CMA notice rejection
The UK’s Competition & Markets Authority has rejected a merger notice for the planned acquisition of Total System Services LLC by Fidelity National Information Services Inc, or FIS.
The competition regulator said the rejection was pursuant to section 99(5)(c) of the Enterprise Act 2002, and based on the merger notice’s failure ‘to provide the prescribed information’.
‘As a result, the current statutory timetable ceases to apply,’ the CMA said.
The regulator said it will restart its formal investigation after the companies, both financial technology firms offering payment processing services, provide a complete merger notice.
It announced back in mid-September that it had launched an investigation into the proposed takeover.
Columbus, Georgia-based TSS became a subsidiary of Global Payments Inc back in 2019. Jacksonville, Florida-headquartered FIS, meanwhile, acquired a 45% stake in Worldpay Inc, which is jointly owned with private equity firm GTCR. Then in May this year, Global Payments said it had agreed to sell TSS to FIS for $13.5 billion, and to buy Worldpay for a net purchase price of $22.7 billion.
The CMA then announced in August that it was considering an investigation into the possible combination of FIS and TSS, citing their already-enlarged status and the potential to diminish competition in the UK market.
FIS, in its own release later on Friday, said that it had proactively identified additional information that it intends to supply to the CMA. This resulted in the need to refile the merger notice.
FIS also said it does not expect this to impact its previously announced timeline for the acquisition, which it still intends to close by the first half of 2026.
Shares in Fidelity National Information Services were marginally higher at $68.57 each in New York on Friday morning. Global Payments shares were flat at $87.18 each.
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