Walmart Chooses Capital One Financial for Credit Card Program

Walmart Chooses Capital One Financial for Credit Card Program
The Walmart logo is seen in a file photo. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Reuters
7/27/2018
Updated:
7/27/2018
Walmart Inc said on Thursday it has tied up with Capital One Financial Corp for its store-branded credit card, ending its two-decade long partnership with Synchrony Financial .

Capital One will issue credit cards for the world’s largest physical retailer in the United States starting Aug. 1, 2019, Walmart said.

The deal covers both credit cards that can only be used at Walmart’s website and stores, as well as co-branded cards that can be used elsewhere, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported about the partnership on Thursday.

Capital One shares rose 1 percent in extended trading on Thursday, while Synchrony’s shares closed down 10 percent.

Synchrony said strategic options for the cards program which it had with Walmart, including a possible sale, is expected to fully offset the impact to its earnings per share, according to a regulatory filing.

Synchrony also said it expects to use the majority of $2.5 billion that could come from the sales of its Walmart portfolio to buy back shares by the end of 2019.

Moelis & Company and Greenhill & Co were financial advisers to Walmart and Morrison & Foerster served as its legal counsel.

Reporting by Diptendu Lahiri, Uday Sampath and Anirban Paul