Shares in Worldpay dipped after Vantiv beat JP Morgan in an official takeover bid of £7.7bn for the FTSE 100 payments firm.
The two firms were revealed to be mulling an offer on Tuesday, sending stock nearly 30 per cent higher, closing at 408 pence per share and adding more than £1bn to its market cap.
Worldpay's share price shot up another five per cent in trading on Wednesday morning following reports that Vantiv was close to agreeing a deal.
An official offer of 385 pence per share in cash and shares sent shares down more than six per cent.
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Vantiv became the biggest acquirer (the go-between processing transactions between retailers and card scheme, such as Visa or American Express) in the US earlier this year in terms of transaction volumes. Annual rankings by Nilson Report showed it overtook rival First Data.
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JP Morgan's Chase Paymentech was third, followed by Bank of America and with Worldpay sixth.
Buying up Worldpay would give either firms a bigger share of the UK and European market. Worldpay is the biggest merchant acquirer in both.
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