Acquisition's Completion Adds Account-to-Account Capabilities to Western Union's Portfolio of Services
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Sep 01, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in the money transfer segment of global payments, today announced it has completed the acquisition of international business-to-business payments provider Custom House. Custom House processes payments originating in seven countries for payout in 120 countries.
With its focus on cross-border payments for small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) and an annualized revenue run rate of $100 million, the acquisition of Custom House will introduce Western Union to a new market, significantly expanding its service offerings and customer base. Western Union estimates that the SME cross-border payments market generates global revenue at least as great as the consumer-to-consumer money transfer market.
"Custom House opens up a world of opportunity for its customers," said Christina Gold, president and chief executive officer, the Western Union Company. "It enables small and medium-sized businesses to operate on a global scale, simplifying international payment transactions and managing the risks associated with foreign exchange. We believe that leveraging the brand, global footprint and financial strength of Western Union will enable Custom House to accelerate its international expansion and growth."
Through its multi-channel delivery system, Custom House enables more than 40,000 clients to make payments in over 150 currencies. Its clients range from businesses with a need to pay international staff to firms that want to pay vendors and merchants quickly and efficiently. The diversity of its client base and the breadth of the addressable market for cross-border SME payments will provide Western Union with a solid foundation in this new market.
"Custom House has a proven operating model, seasoned management team and differentiating technology," said Ranjana Clark, president, Global Business Payments and head of Global Strategy. "Its relatively small share of a large and expanding market offers an incredible runway for growth. This acquisition makes Western Union an instant player in the business-to-business payments space and its account-to-account capabilities complement our existing services."
Custom House, which will be re-branded under the Western Union umbrella of services, will continue to be headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia under the leadership of its existing management team.
Safe Harbor Compliance Statement for Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, our forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "guides," "provides guidance," "provides outlook" and other similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "should," "would" and "could" are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Readers of this press release by The Western Union Company (the "Company," "Western Union," "we," "our" or "us") should not rely solely on the forward-looking statements and should consider all uncertainties and risks discussed in the Risk Factors section and throughout the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008. The statements are only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
Possible events or factors that could cause results or performance to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements include the following: changes in general economic conditions and economic conditions in the regions and industries in which we operate; adverse movements and volatility in capital markets and other events which affect our liquidity, the liquidity of our agents, or the value of, or our ability to recover our investments; changes in immigration laws, patterns and other factors related to migrants; technological changes, particularly with respect to e-commerce; the failure by us, our agents or subagents to comply with our business and technology standards and contract requirements or applicable laws and regulations, especially laws designed to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, and/or changing regulatory or enforcement interpretations of those laws; our ability to attract and retain qualified key employees and to manage our workforce successfully; changes in foreign exchange rates, including the impact of the regulation of foreign exchange spreads on money transfers; political conditions and related actions in the United States and abroad which may adversely affect our businesses and economic conditions as a whole; failure to maintain sufficient amounts or types of regulatory capital to meet the changing requirements of our regulators worldwide; significantly slower growth or declines in the money transfer market and other markets in which we operate; failure to implement agent contracts according to schedule; our ability to maintain our agent network and biller relationships under terms consistent with or more advantageous to us than those currently in place; interruptions of United States government relations with countries in which we have or are implementing material agent contracts; deterioration in consumers' and clients' confidence in our business, or in money transfer providers generally; failure to manage credit and fraud risks presented by our agents and consumers, or non-performance by our banks, lenders, other financial services providers or insurers; adverse rating actions by credit rating agencies; liabilities and unanticipated developments resulting from litigation and regulatory investigations and similar matters, including costs, expenses, settlements and judgments; changes in United States or foreign laws, rules and regulations including the Internal Revenue Code, and governmental or judicial interpretations thereof; our ability to favorably resolve tax matters with the Internal Revenue Service and other tax jurisdictions; changes in industry standards affecting our business; changes in accounting standards, rules and interpretations; failure to compete effectively in the money transfer industry with respect to global and niche or corridor money transfer providers, banks and other money transfer services providers, including telecommunications providers, card associations and card-based payment providers; our failure to develop and introduce new products, services and enhancements, and gain market acceptance of such products; our ability to protect our brands and our other intellectual property rights; our failure to manage the potential both for patent protection and patent liability in the context of a rapidly developing legal framework for intellectual property protection; any material breach of security of or interruptions in any of our systems; mergers, acquisitions and integration of acquired businesses and technologies into our company and the realization of anticipated synergies from these acquisitions; adverse consequences from our spin-off from First Data Corporation, including resolution of certain ongoing matters; decisions to downsize, sell or close units, or to transition operating activities from one location to another or to third parties, particularly transitions from the United States to other countries; decisions to change our business mix; cessation of various services provided to us by third-party vendors; catastrophic events; and management's ability to identify and manage these and other risks.
About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta and Pago Facil branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta operate through a combined network of more than 385,000 Agent locations in 200 countries and territories. Famous for its pioneering telegraph services, the original Western Union dates back to 1851. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
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SOURCE: Western Union
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