Alibaba’s Ant Financial Raises Offer for MoneyGram to $1.2B

| Updated
by Tatsiana Yablonskaya · 3 min read
Alibaba’s Ant Financial Raises Offer for MoneyGram to $1.2B
Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr

The merger with Ant Financial will provide MoneyGram with resources to further develop its technology, systems and anti-money laundering and compliance programs.

MoneyGram and Ant Financial Services Group have approved the amendment to the definitive agreement called the “Amended Merger Agreement”. According to the Agreement, Ant Financial increased the offer price to acquire all of the outstanding shares of MoneyGram from $13.25 per share to $18.00 per share in cash, which provides approximately $320 million in additional cash consideration to MoneyGram. The total sum of transaction now makes up $1,204 million. Ant Financial will assume or refinance MoneyGram’s outstanding debt.

According to the press release, the Amended Merger Agreement was unanimously approved by the MoneyGram board of directors. The transaction continues to be expected to close in the second half of 2017.

“Throughout this process, our board of directors has remained laser-focused on maximizing value for MoneyGram stockholders, while taking into account price, the ability to complete a transaction and other important considerations”, Pamela Patsley, Executive Chairman of MoneyGram, said. “We are pleased to offer even more value to our stockholders through the amendment of our merger agreement with Ant Financial. We continue to be excited about the transaction, which we are confident will provide substantial benefits to all of our stakeholders, including stockholders, customers, agents and employees.”

Alex Holmes, Chief Executive Officer of MoneyGram, expressed confidence that the merger will provide consumers all over the world with innovative and reliable financial connections to friends and family. Both companies strive to develop the common business, facilitating money transfers for customers and offering a wider selection of services for the agents who serve them around the world.

“We look forward to joining forces with MoneyGram, which will add valuable cross-border remittance capabilities to the Ant Financial ecosystem, serving our more than 630 million users globally. Over the past few months, we have enjoyed working closely with the MoneyGram team and remain committed to our plans to invest further in the MoneyGram business”, Doug Feagin, President of Ant Financial International, said. “We plan to grow the U.S.-based team and create even greater opportunities for the MoneyGram community as we pursue our shared vision of global inclusive finance in an increasingly digital era.”

Feagin added that being a part of Ant Financial insures an access to resources to further develop the technology, systems and anti-money laundering and compliance programs of MoneyGram.

According to the Amended Merger Agreement, MoneyGram becomes an independent subsidiary of Ant Financial and retain its brand, management team, IT infrastructure and headquarters in Dallas, Texas, while all of MoneyGram’s current procedures and protections concerning data security and personally identifiable information will remain intact.

Last week, Ant Financial entered partnership with Indonesian media company Elang Mahkota Teknologi (Emtek) to provide mobile payment services to Indonesia. The agreement comes as part of Ant Financial’s strategy to expand its services outside China, as it aims at reducing its reliance on the market.

News
Related Articles