Exclusive: Bain, Advent cancel sale of WorldPay's U.S. unit

WorldPay's private equity owners, Bain Capital LLC and Advent International Corp, have canceled the auction of the payment processing firm's U.S. unit, WorldPay told Reuters on Friday.

Several people familiar with the matter said the sale was aimed at raising as much as $1 billion.

The buyout firms bought four-fifths of WorldPay from Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in 2010 for about 2 billion pounds ($3 billion) and were looking to sell WorldPay's U.S. assets to pay themselves a dividend as well as repay debt.

No potential buyer was willing to meet Bain's and Advent's price expectations of $800 million to $1 billion, the sources familiar with the matter said this week. Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, CVC Capital Partners Ltd and Thoma Bravo LLC were among the private equity firms in discussions with WorldPay about a deal, the sources said.

"Following a strategic review of WorldPay U.S., we have concluded that the growth potential and value of the business will be maximized by remaining part of WorldPay Group," WorldPay spokesman Simon Kutner told Reuters in an email on Friday. He declined to confirm details of the auction.

Bain, Advent, Thomas H. Lee Partners, Thoma Bravo and CVC declined to comment.

(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Jessica Toonkel in New York; Editing by John Wallace)