Yahoo Finance Sir Mike Rake To Leave Barclays Board
Sir Mike Rake is to quit as the deputy chairman of Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) to lead a stock market listing of Worldpay, the payments processing giant, just a week after he orchestrated the sacking of the bank's chief executive.
Sir Mike's move - revealed by Sky News earlier on Wednesday - will see him step down from the board of Barclays after more than seven years.
He has been preparing to resign as a director of the bank for some time, although the timing of his departure may surprise the City given the pivotal role he played in the dismissal of Antony Jenkins, Barclays' boss.
Worldpay is expected to announce Sir Mike's appointment as early as this week, according to insiders, with his exit from Barclays triggered by a regulatory limit on the number of directorships which can be held by individuals.
Owned by Advent International and Bain Capital, two buyout firms, since 2010, Worldpay will be propelled straight into the FTSE-100 if it proceeds with a flotation.
A number of other investment firms, including Blackstone (NYSE: BX - news) , CVC Capital Partners and Hellman & Friedman, lodged offers this week which could yet trump a public listing and result in Sir Mike's appointment being short-lived.
However, a public share sale remains the likelier outcome, and in recent weeks Worldpay has hired six banks to work on the float.
Fund management sources said there had been strong interest in buying Worldpay shares, roughly five years after the company was sold by the bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) (RBS) in a deal worth approximately £2bn.
Sir Mike will replace Worldpay's current chairman, John Allan, who also chairs Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) and the housebuilder Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV.L - news) , in September.
Mr Allan will remain on its board as a non-executive director.
Advent and Bain bought Worldpay from RBS as the taxpayer-backed lender sought to dispose of assets following its £45.5bn bail-out.
Worldpay has grown at a spectacular rate since then, with Philip Jansen, a former executive with the catering group Sodexo and MyTravel, the tour operator, spearheading the company's growth.
Specialising in the provision of secure payment services, its major corporate customers include Google (Xetra: A0B7FY - news) and Sony (Hanover: SON1.HA - news) .
Comparable listed companies such as Wirecard (Xetra: 747206 - news) and Brazil’s Cielo (Sao Paolo: CIEL3.SA - news) usually trade at valuations worth between 14 and 20 times their annual profits.
With Worldpay expected to record around £400m of pre-tax profit in 2015, a similar valuation range would attribute a price tag of between £5.6bn and £8bn to the company.
In the UK, Worldpay combines the former Streamline business with Cardsave, YESpay and Zinc, handling well over half of all card transactions.
The company sees further growth opportunities in the ongoing push to open up payment systems, with a new regulator recently assuming oversight of the industry.
Under his leadership, it has begun implementing a new brand identity using the slogan "Leaders in Modern Money".
Worldpay, which declined to comment, also owns a potentially valuable stake in Visa Europe.
Standfirst: Worldpay is expected to confirm a Sky News report that Sir Mike will take over from John Allan as its chairman.
