The most widely known money transfer company, MoneyGram was being bought out by Alibaba’s Ant Financial but it may land in the hands of Euronet Worldwide Inc., courtesy of its super fresh $1 billion proposal. Earlier in January, Alibaba’s payment affiliate had offered $880 million for MoneyGram, however, the deal didn’t take off. The alluring and quite humongous amount offered by Euronet might catch the prey and hence the company will flag its triumph over the Chinese financial behemoth.
Although Alibaba is yet to comment on the matter, Euronet has announced that it’ll pay $15.20 a share for Nasdaq-listed MoneyGram. The said price trumps Ant Financial’s $13.25 per share offering by a significant value. The acquisition of MoneyGram by Euronet will come as a huge blow to the U.S. expansion plans for the Chinese giant. To pull in the investors for Moneygram, Euronet added that not only does it offer 15 percent more than Ant Financial, its bid offers 28 percent premium on MoneyGram’s trade share price.
Post this development hit the market, MoneyGram’s share took off and settled for a price as high as $15.85 a share after witnessing a 25 percent hike. This jump in the price may provoke other investors to further raise their bids in order to materialise the deal.
Founded in 1994, Hungary based Euronet already includes payment platforms such as Epay, HiFix and XE under its investment portfolio. The company has its established specialisation in point-of-sale and online/offline payment services. Since its inception, the company has acquired various money transfer providers, currency sites and ATM cash operators. The prior knowledge and experience in the money conversion and payment sector, hence, distinguishes its purpose and proposal from that of Ant Financial itself.
On the other hand, Ant Financial desires to build a strong offline network with the incorporation of MoneyGram. The company presently has zero or nil real offline presence which could be supported by the offline approach of MoneyGram. Though the company has brand value in the Chinese market with its mobile payment platform Alipay and digital banking and financial services platform; now it is continuously striving towards expansion in other markets as well.
The company aggressively invested in countries including investments in Korea, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. With acquiring a majority stake in India’s leading digital payment gateway Paytm to leading a $200 million investment in Kakao Pay, the company is all set to conquer Asia with its expertise in the global money transfer industry.
Announcing the bid previously, Ant Financial’s CEO Eric Jang said that the company is aiming to reach two billion users over the next 10 years. Jang further added in a press statement,
The combination of Ant Financial and MoneyGram will provide greater access, security and simplicity for people around the world to remit funds, especially in major economies such as the United States, China, India, Mexico and the Philippines.
In addition to offering $15.20 for each MoneyGram common and preferred stock share on an as-converted basis, Euronet had also offered to assume about $940 million of MoneyGram’s outstanding debt. MoneyGram presently has about 350,000 outlets in retail shops, post offices and banks in nearly 200 countries and territories. With its large network of retail locations, MoneyGram would bring in cost synergies and a game-changing international brand for the company.
