Worldline - comment

Following its €410m divestment of MeTS last month, Worldline announced the “contemplated” sale of smart routing Payment IQ (Worldline Payment Orchestration) for a further €160m. We are a little surprised to see management take this strategic direction - away from the usual demands of large international merchants with high transaction rates. Worldline is focusing on basic quality instead, putting stability and scale over versatility and breadth and attempting to find the best solution every time. The company needs liquidity to address the front-end of its credit curve and avoid having to refinance at current market rates.