Mastercard ditches bid

MASTERCARD has abandoned a bid for a British payments firm, clearing the way for rival Visa.

Earthport, which offers a lower-cost option than traditional payment companies, has been at the heart of a bidding battle between payment groups Mastercard and Visa since the end of December.

Bosses at the targeted firm had initially backed Mastercard’s £233m bid, but then switched allegiance to Visa when it made a £247m offer.

last night Mastercard confirmed it had abandoned its bid to buy Earthport, adding it had won support from only 0.29pc of the smaller firm’s shareholders.

Earthport’s shares crashed 24.2pc, or 11.6p, to 36.4p.