Brookfield Asset Management entered into a long-term partnership with Barclays to transform the UK bank’s payment acceptance business, with plans to take a controlling stake of up to 80% in the entity over time.

The deal marks the first investment from Brookfield Financial Infrastructure Partners, part of its private equity division.

The partnership will see Barclays invest £400m to support the transformation, while Brookfield brings operational expertise in payments, technology, and carve-outs. The firm will be entitled to a performance-based incentive that can be converted into a 10% equity stake. From year three of the partnership, Brookfield has the option to acquire approximately 70% of the business at market value, taking its total shareholding to 80%.

The business, which processes billions in payments annually, serves a wide client base of SMEs and multinational corporations and will continue operating under the “Barclaycard Payments” brand. Barclays will retain a 20% stake post-sale and will remain the exclusive provider of payment acceptance services to its clients for at least 10 years.

Sir Ron Kalifa, Vice Chair and Head of Financial Infrastructure at Brookfield, said: “We’re excited to draw on our deep global payments expertise to partner with Barclays and deliver the operational transformation required to create the market leader.”

The move underscores Brookfield’s expanding footprint in financial infrastructure following recent investments in Magnati and Network International.

Source: Barclays