Visa Inc.has offered $21bn (£13.4bn) to acquire Visa Europe – as a result of merger, Romanian banks will receive some money and maybe new fees

Each of the roughly 3,000 lenders which are shareholders in Visa Europe, including Romanian banks, owns a single share in the company, but the economic value of that stake is determined by the volume of business that they conduct through its network. It is unclear whether British banks and other Visa Europe members will be required to negotiate new fee arrangements with Visa Inc if a deal is completed.

The American payments giant Visa has tabled a $21bn (£13.4bn) offer to acquire its European sister company in a deal that would crystallise huge windfalls for some of Britain’s biggest banks. Sky News has learnt that Visa Inc has proposed the outline of a takeover which would include a substantial up-front payment. A substantial element of the $21bn headline price tag would be deferred and payable according to a range of performance-related conditions, according to people close to the situation.

News of the likely terms of a deal comes just weeks after Visa Inc confirmed that it was in discussions with Visa Europe about a combination of their businesses, saying that it hoped to agree a transaction by the end of October. Talks between the two Visa entities are continuing, with banking sources close to the discussions saying on Thursday that many of Visa Europe’s largest shareholders are inclined to accept a deal on the proposed terms.

Under a long-standing agreement between them, Visa Europe has a put option which would oblige Visa Inc to acquire it at a price calculated by a detailed formula. However, while Visa Inc does not have a formal call option, it is free to make an offer for its European sister at any time and at any price, and it is on this basis that the takeover negotiations are understood to be proceeding.

A $21bn offer would exceed Wall Street’s expectations of the price that New York-listed Visa Inc would have to pay to reunite its transatlantic operations.

The company said in April that the likely cost of doing so would be more than $10bn, meaning that if a deal is struck on the terms currently under discussion, it would be valued at more than double the originally envisaged sum. Last month, the US-based company confirmed that talks were underway.

„Visa Inc. believes there is compelling logic for both Visa Inc. and Visa Europe to consummate a business combination and therefore regularly engages in such discussions and is currently in such discussions with Visa Europe,” it said.

A deal worth more than £13bn would represent positive news for UK banks such as Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group, which have been pressing Visa Europe’s board to hold out for a bumper price. Sources indicate that if a takeover of Visa Europe valued it at £13.4bn, Barclays’ stake would be worth well over £1bn, with Lloyds’ interest worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Lloyds’ substantial stake in Visa Europe is partly a consequence of its takeover of HBOS during the 2008 financial crisis, a rare example of a beneficial legacy from that deal. Previous negotiations about a takeover have met opposition from French bank members of Visa Europe, with their priority being to keep the company independent.

Many European countries have their own domestic debit payment networks, while in the UK the vast majority of debit transactions are handled by Visa.

Visa Inc is keen to reunite its US and European operations for the first time since 2007 in an effort to compete more effectively with rival Mastercard amid a fast-changing payments industry landscape. Visa Inc was itself part of a global bank-owned association before it became a listed company in 2008. Buying Visa Europe, which processed more than 16bn transactions last year, would strengthen its position as the world’s biggest payments group at a time when its industry is undergoing radical technology-driven shifts.