Fifth Third expects $200M gain from sale of Worldpay shares

Fifth Third Bancorp expects to earn an additional $200 million in pretax profits this quarter after selling off a portion of its stake in the payments processor Worldpay.

The Cincinnati company disclosed in a regulatory filing Wednesday it has sold 5 million shares in Worldpay, reducing its ownership stake from 4.9% to 3.3%. The company expects to recognize the gain in its second-quarter earnings, scheduled to be released on July 19.

Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg

The $142 billion-asset Fifth Third has steadily reduced its ownership of the payment processor in recent years, selling of shares and recording a series of one-time windfalls in its quarterly results.

The payment processor, previously known as Vantiv, was spun off from Fifth Third in 2012. In the years following its initial public offering, it made a number of acquisitions. The most significant of which was its $10 billion deal in early 2018 for the U.K.-based Worldpay, which expanded its global reach.

The combined company adopted the Worldpay name, but kept its headquarters in Cincinnati.

The sale of Worldpay shares also comes on the heels of a major acquisition for Fifth Third. The company late last month agreed to acquire the $20 billion-asset MB Financial in Chicago. That deal, valued at nearly $5 billion, is expected to boost the company’s share of the deposit market in the Windy City.