CINCINNATI Fifth Third Bancorp said it has agreed to sell another five million shares of Vantiv, the one-time Fifth Third Processing Solutions it took public two years ago, at a pretax gain of about $85 million.
Fifth Third, which earned $225 million from the sale of Vantiv shares in the second quarter, said the sale will cut its remaining stake in the cards processor for more than 800 credit unions to 25.1%, valued at $448 million.
Fifth Third also earned $157 million pretax on the sale of Vantiv shares in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The Cincinnati bank said the sale of its Vantiv stake is aimed at monetizing the remaining portion of the cards processor in an orderly fashion over time.
Advent International, the Boston venture fund that partnered with Fifth Third Bancorp on last year’s initial public offering, also sold 15 million Vantiv shares valued at $400 million and is still Vantiv’s largest shareholder with a stake of more than 40%.
Vantiv went public in May 2012 at $22 a share and closed this afternoon at $27.40.
