LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Mastercard ( MA ) has reached

an agreement in principle to settle a collective London lawsuit

brought on behalf of British consumers over card fees, it said

on Tuesday.

The global payments processor was facing a lawsuit brought

by consumer champion Walter Merricks on behalf of approximately

46 million adults in the United Kingdom.

The case became the first mass consumer action to be

approved in the UK in 2021 after a nearly five-year journey from

the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) to the UK Supreme Court

and back.

Mastercard ( MA ) said that, during the latest round of the case at

the CAT on Tuesday, it was announced the company and Merricks -

as the representative of the claimant class - had reached an

agreement to settle the case, subject to the tribunal's

approval.

The CAT said in its most recent judgment in October that the

value of the entire claim was stated by the claimants' lawyers

to be about 10 billion pounds ($12.7 billion).

A person familiar with the agreement, however, said the

figure of the settlement was around 200 million pounds.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement in principle to

put this case behind us," a Mastercard ( MA ) spokesperson said in a

statement.

Merricks said in a statement: "I am very pleased that after

nearly nine years of litigation with Mastercard ( MA ), I have agreed a

settlement that I believe will deliver meaningful compensation

to class members who choose to come forward to participate in

the distribution of the damages."