LONDON (Alliance News) - Mastercard Inc said it was considering its options Wednesday and urged Earthport PLC shareholders to "take no action" on rival Visa Inc's offer for Earthport.
Visa initially made a bid of 30 pence per share in December, which was agreed with cross-border payments firm Earthport. However, in late January, Mastercard came in with its own offer at 33p.
Visa has since upped its offer to 37 pence per share, which values Earthport at around GBP247 million fully diluted. The new figure is 12% above Mastercard's offer and 23% higher than the original Visa bid.
Shares in Earthport were up 0.4% Wednesday at 46.00 pence each.
Mastercard replied in the tit-for-tat bidding war by saying it is now "considering its options", urging Earthport shareholders to hold off on accepting the Visa offer.
Mastercard's offer has been extended to March 8, giving Earthport shareholders a week and a half to accept the offer. As of Tuesday, Mastercard had received acceptances from 0.3% of Earthport shareholders.