Global Payments Inc. completed a $6.2 billion senior unsecured bond offering on November 6, 2025, issuing four tranches ranging from three to ten years. The 10‑year note was priced at a premium of roughly 1.75 percentage points above U.S. Treasury yields, reflecting favorable market conditions for large, investment‑grade issuances.
The proceeds will be used to pay cash for the $22.7 billion net purchase of Worldpay, refinance existing Worldpay debt, cover transaction costs, and support general corporate purposes. The bond sale is part of a broader financing package that also includes the divestiture of Global Payments’ Issuer Solutions business to FIS for $13.5 billion, allowing the company to focus on its core merchant‑solutions platform.
Management emphasized that the transaction will transform Global Payments into a pure‑play merchant‑solutions provider with expanded scale and capabilities. CEO Cameron Bready said the deal “sharpen[s] our strategic focus and simplify Global Payments as a pure play merchant solutions business,” and that “scale has become everything in our business.”
Financially, the company has maintained an investment‑grade credit profile, with S&P Global Ratings assigning a BBB‑ rating to the new notes and keeping the outlook stable. Global Payments’ net leverage ratio was 2.9× at the end of Q3 2025, below its 3.0× target, and the company expects to generate $784 million in free cash flow during that quarter, providing a solid foundation for the additional debt load.
Analysts noted that the bond offering comes amid a record year for global bond issuance, suggesting that market conditions are conducive to large, long‑term financing. The transaction also aligns with industry consolidation trends, as scale becomes increasingly critical for competitive advantage in the payments sector.
The bond sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, the same period when the Worldpay acquisition is projected to finalize. The combined entity will serve approximately six million merchants worldwide and is anticipated to deliver $600 million in cost synergies and $200 million in revenue synergies over the next three years, reinforcing the strategic rationale behind the financing.
The announcement underscores Global Payments’ commitment to completing the Worldpay deal while preserving a strong balance sheet and maintaining investment‑grade credit ratings, positioning the company for continued growth in the merchant‑solutions market.
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