The Company agrees to sell Speedpay for $750 million in cash
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a global leader in cross-border,
cross-currency money movement, and ACI
Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time electronic
payment and banking solutions, today announced they have
entered into a definitive agreement for ACI to acquire Speedpay, Western
Union’s United States bill pay business, for $750 million in an all-cash
transaction. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the
second quarter of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions and
regulatory approvals.
The Company also announced that its Board of Directors approved a new
three-year share repurchase authorization. The new $1.0 billion share
repurchase authorization will expire December 31, 2021 and is in
addition to the $544 million remaining under the previous authorization
as of December 31, 2018.
Hikmet Ersek, president and CEO of Western Union, stated, “Divesting the
Speedpay business allows us to concentrate our resources on our
cross-border money movement strategies and monetize a non-core asset for
our shareholders. Our strategy remains focused on expanding our digital
services, leveraging our platform to unlock new cross-border,
cross-currency payments opportunities, and generating additional
operating efficiencies.”
Ersek added, “We are also pleased to announce a new share repurchase
authorization, which signifies our continued commitment to
shareholder-focused capital allocation.”
Speedpay provides electronic bill presentment and payment solutions to a
variety of business sectors in the U.S., including utilities, auto
finance, mortgage, consumer finance, insurance, telecommunications, and
government finance. The Speedpay business generated approximately $350
million of revenue in 2018, representing 6% of total Western Union
revenue, and approximately $90 million of operating income, which
includes approximately $10 million of corporate expenses allocated to
the business.
The Company expects to record a pre-tax gain on the sale of
approximately $500 million when the transaction closes. Net proceeds of
the transaction, after taxes on the gain, are projected to be
approximately $575 million and the Company intends to use the proceeds
to return capital to shareholders and manage its capital structure.
The Company will update its 2019 outlook to reflect the divestiture,
including the gain on sale impact to GAAP EPS and the effect from
removal of a partial year of Speedpay earnings, as well as any impact
from use of proceeds in 2019, in its first quarter earnings release. The
Company does not expect the divestiture to affect its 2019 operating
margin outlook of approximately 20%.
Centerview Partners LLC is acting as financial advisor to Western Union
on the Speedpay transaction and Sidley Austin LLP is acting as legal
counsel.
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 "may," "will,"
"should," "would," "could," and "might" are intended to identify such
forward-looking statements. Readers of this press release of 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, 2018. 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: (i) events related to our business and industry,
such as: changes in general economic conditions and economic conditions
in the regions and industries in which we operate, including global
economic downturns and trade disruptions, or significantly slower growth
or declines in the money transfer, payment service, and other markets in
which we operate, including downturns or declines related to
interruptions in migration patterns, or non-performance by our banks,
lenders, insurers, or other financial services providers; failure to
compete effectively in the money transfer and payment service industry,
including among other things, with respect to price, with global and
niche or corridor money transfer providers, banks and other money
transfer and payment service providers, including electronic, mobile and
Internet-based services, card associations, and card-based payment
providers, and with digital currencies and related protocols, and other
innovations in technology and business models; political conditions and
related actions, including trade restrictions and government sanctions,
in the United States and abroad which may adversely affect our business
and economic conditions as a whole, including interruptions of United
States or other government relations with countries in which we have or
are implementing significant business relationships with agents or
clients; deterioration in customer confidence in our business, or in
money transfer and payment service providers generally; our ability to
adopt new technology and develop and gain market acceptance of new and
enhanced services in response to changing industry and consumer needs or
trends; changes in, and failure to manage effectively, exposure to
foreign exchange rates, including the impact of the regulation of
foreign exchange spreads on money transfers and payment transactions;
any material breach of security, including cybersecurity, or safeguards
of or interruptions in any of our systems or those of our vendors or
other third parties; cessation of or defects in various services
provided to us by third-party vendors; mergers, acquisitions, and the
integration of acquired businesses and technologies into our Company,
divestitures, and the failure to realize anticipated financial benefits
from these transactions, and events requiring us to write down our
goodwill; decisions to change our business mix; failure to manage credit
and fraud risks presented by our agents, clients and consumers; failure
to maintain our agent network and business relationships under terms
consistent with or more advantageous to us than those currently in
place, including due to increased costs or loss of business as a result
of increased compliance requirements or difficulty for us, our agents or
their subagents in establishing or maintaining relationships with banks
needed to conduct our services; changes in tax laws, or their
interpretation, including with respect to United States tax reform
legislation enacted in December 2017 (the “Tax Act”), any subsequent
regulation, and potential related state income tax impacts, and
unfavorable resolution of tax contingencies; adverse rating actions by
credit rating agencies; our ability to realize the anticipated benefits
from business transformation, productivity and cost-savings, and other
related initiatives, which may include decisions to downsize or to
transition operating activities from one location to another, and to
minimize any disruptions in our workforce that may result from those
initiatives; our ability to protect our brands and our other
intellectual property rights and to defend ourselves against potential
intellectual property infringement claims; our ability to attract and
retain qualified key employees and to manage our workforce successfully;
material changes in the market value or liquidity of securities that we
hold; restrictions imposed by our debt obligations; (ii) events related
to our regulatory and litigation environment, such as: liabilities or
loss of business resulting from a failure by us, our agents or their
subagents to comply with laws and regulations and regulatory or judicial
interpretations thereof, including laws and regulations designed to
protect consumers, or detect and prevent money laundering, terrorist
financing, fraud and other illicit activity; increased costs or loss of
business due to regulatory initiatives and changes in laws, regulations
and industry practices and standards, including changes in
interpretations, in the United States and abroad, affecting us, our
agents or their subagents, or the banks with which we or our agents
maintain bank accounts needed to provide our services, including related
to anti-money laundering regulations, anti-fraud measures, our licensing
arrangements, customer due diligence, agent and subagent due diligence,
registration and monitoring requirements, consumer protection
requirements, remittances, and immigration; liabilities, increased costs
or loss of business and unanticipated developments resulting from
governmental investigations and consent agreements with or enforcement
actions by regulators, including those associated with the settlement
agreements with the United States Department of Justice, certain United
States Attorney’s Offices, the United States Federal Trade Commission,
the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the United States Department
of Treasury, and various state attorneys general (the “Joint Settlement
Agreements”), and those associated with the January 4, 2018 consent
order which resolved a matter with the New York State Department of
Financial Services (the “NYDFS Consent Order”); liabilities resulting
from litigation, including class-action lawsuits and similar matters,
and regulatory enforcement actions, including costs, expenses,
settlements and judgments; failure to comply with regulations and
evolving industry standards regarding consumer privacy and data use and
security, including with respect to the General Data Protection
Regulation (“GDPR”) approved by the European Union (“EU”); failure to
comply with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection
Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), as well as regulations issued pursuant to it
and the actions of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and
similar legislation and regulations enacted by other governmental
authorities in the United States and abroad related to consumer
protection and derivative transactions; effects of unclaimed property
laws or their interpretation or the enforcement thereof; failure to
maintain sufficient amounts or types of regulatory capital or other
restrictions on the use of our working capital to meet the changing
requirements of our regulators worldwide; changes in accounting
standards, rules and interpretations or industry standards affecting our
business; (iii) events related to the Speedpay transaction, such as: the
impact on the Company of the consummation of the sale of Speedpay; the
timely receipt of regulatory approvals necessary to consummate the sale
of Speedpay within the timeframe contemplated by the parties; the
ability of the Company and ACI to consummate the sale of Speedpay on a
timely and effective basis, including the ability to timely separate the
Speedpay business from the Company and the ability to timely perform
post-divestiture transition services and support (including the ability
to timely receive third-party consents necessary in connection
therewith); distraction of management in connection with efforts to
consummate the sale of Speedpay and to implement post-divestiture
transition services and support; and risk of unanticipated costs,
liabilities and adverse impact on business operations arising from the
Company’s provision of post-divestiture transition services and support
in connection with the sale of Speedpay; and (iv) other events, such as:
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 global leader in cross-border,
cross-currency money movement. Our omnichannel platform connects the
digital and physical worlds and makes it possible for consumers and
businesses to send and receive money and make payments with speed, ease,
and reliability. As of December 31, 2018, our network included over
550,000 retail agent locations offering Western Union, Vigo or Orlandi
Valuta branded services in more than 200 countries and territories, with
the capability to send money to billions of accounts. Additionally, westernunion.com,
our fastest growing channel in 2018, is available in more than 60
countries, plus additional territories, to move money around the world.
In 2018, we moved over $300 billion in principal in nearly 130
currencies and processed 34 transactions every second across all our
services. With our global reach, Western Union moves money for better,
connecting family, friends and businesses to enable financial inclusion
and support economic growth. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
WU-G
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Media Relations:
Claire Treacy
+1 (720) 332-0652
claire.treacy@westernunion.com
Investor Relations:
Mike Salop
+1(720) 332-8276
mike.salop@westernunion.com
Source: The Western Union Company