Slaughter and May advised VocaLink on the UK and European competition aspects of its proposed acquisition by Mastercard

Slaughter and May advised VocaLink Limited (VocaLink) on the UK and European competition aspects of its proposed acquisition by Mastercard for £700 million plus potential future earn-out provisions. Following a referral from the European Commission, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) conditionally cleared the transaction on 11 April 2017.

The clearance decision was conditional on the parties’ undertakings to remedy the potential competition issue identified by the CMA in the provision of central infrastructure services to the LINK ATM network.  Slaughter and May advised VocaLink on the package of behavioural undertakings ultimately accepted by the CMA in lieu of reference to a Phase 2 investigation.

VocaLink is a private UK company engaged predominantly in the provision of central infrastructure services to three of the UK’s major interbank payment schemes (namely, the Bacs interbank payment system, the Faster Payments Service and the LINK ATM network).