LONDON (Alliance News) - Visa Inc has acquired 67.6 million shares, equal to a 9.9% stake in cross-border payments platform Earthport PLC for 37 pence per share.
Following this transaction, Visa now has irrevocable undertakings to accept the offer for Earthport at 173.4 million shares, reflecting a 27% interest.
The first closing date for the offer is on Tuesday at 1300 GMT.
Earlier on Monday, the takeover panel granted Visa a 14-day extension to the date when an offer must be declared unconditional.
In December, Visa initially made a bid of 30 pence per share in December, which was agreed with Earthport. However, in late January, Mastercard Inc came in with its own offer at 33p.
Visa upped its offer to 37 pence per share in February, which valued Earthport at around GBP247 million. The new figure was 12% above Mastercard's offer and 23% higher than the original Visa bid.
Shares in Earthport closed down 0.6% at 36.20 pence on Monday.
