A counteroffer of £2.13 billion ($2.7 billion) from Canada's Brookfield Asset Management has surpassed a joint offer from CVC Capital and Francisco Partners to acquire payments provider Network International.
The largest payment processing company in the Middle East and Africa may be the subject of a bidding battle, according to Network International, a company located in the UAE, which said it was reviewing Brookfield's proposal.
In contrast to the publicly reported joint proposal from private equity companies CVC Capital and Francisco Partners, Brookfield offered 400 pence per share instead of 387 pence.
Early trading saw shares of London-listed Network International rise more than 11% to 400.2 pence, suggesting that a bid around that price would be considered acceptable.
Analysts predict that the company will profit from developments in the Middle East and Africa's payment and financial services infrastructure.
Last year, Brookfield, which manages more than $5 billion in assets in the Middle East, acquired a 60% share in Magnati, First Abu Dhabi Bank's payments division.
According to Credit Suisse analyst Justin Forsythe, Magnati, the No. 2 payment processor in the UAE, would give Brookfield between 60% and 65% of the country's payment volume.
However, Forsythe noted that having two options on the table increases the possibility of a Network agreement.
Capital Research and Mastercard UK are among Network International's main investors. The company went public in April 2019 in London at a price per share of 435 pence.
Online retailers can use payment gateways from Network International. On its website, it claimed to have handled more than $42 billion for more than 150,000 merchants in 2021.
It had stated that if a firm offer was made, it would consider endorsing the consortium's proposal.