ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of
real-time electronic payment and banking solutions,
and The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a global leader in
cross-border, cross-currency money movement, 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. This acquisition brings
together two leading bill pay portfolios in the rapidly-evolving
U.S. electronic bill pay and presentment (EBPP) market.
Together, the ACI and Speedpay bill pay solutions will serve
more than 4,000 customers across the U.S., bringing expanded reach
in existing and complementary segments such as consumer finance,
insurance, healthcare, higher education, utilities, government and
mortgage. This will enable the combined business to more
effectively serve a rapidly-evolving category as well as pursue
additional vertical segments.
The acquisition of Speedpay will increase the scale of ACI’s On
Demand platform business and will accelerate platform innovation
through increased R&D spend and investments in ACI On Demand’s
platform infrastructure. ACI will bring together the Speedpay and
UP Bill Payment platforms into a unified bill payment platform that
will support billions of transactions. Moreover, the combined ACI
and Speedpay team of bill payments experts will bring together
decades of vertical experience and payments thought leadership,
developing and delivering end-to-end solutions that more
efficiently address specific business needs and add more value to
customers and partners.
“This acquisition reinforces ACI’s ‘any payment, every
possibility’ vision and accelerates our ability to capitalize on
the growing global payment transaction opportunity over the next
five years. It presents a great opportunity for ACI to strengthen
and add scale to our On Demand business, and provides fuel for
growth and increased R&D investment which will benefit both ACI
and Speedpay customers,” said Phil Heasley, president and CEO, ACI
Worldwide. “We are excited to welcome the talented Speedpay team
into the ACI family. With decades of proven success, the ACI and
Speedpay teams have a deep understanding of bill payments, and the
combination of our portfolios delivers an unmatched value
proposition.”
With more than 15 billion transactions in 2018, the U.S. bill
pay market continues to grow at steady mid-single digit rates. This
growth is driven by factors such as increased consumer adoption of
digital and mobile payments, the move to real-time payments and
digital subscription billing.
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.”
The addition of the Speedpay business, generating more than $350
million in revenue and $90 million in adjusted EBITDA in 2018,
provides compelling financial benefit to ACI and is expected to
materially improve net adjusted EBITDA margin in ACI’s On Demand
segment. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions
and regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of the
second quarter of 2019.
Centerview Partners LLC is acting as financial advisor to
Western Union and BofA Merrill Lynch is acting as financial advisor
to ACI. Sidley Austin LLP is Western Union’s counsel and Jones Day
is advising ACI.
In a separate press release issued today, ACI announced fourth
quarter and full year 2018 financial results. The press release is
available in the Investor Relations section of ACI’s website
www.aciworldwide.com.
ACI will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. EST today to
discuss the transaction as well as fourth quarter and full year
2018 financial results. Interested persons may access a real-time
audio broadcast of the teleconference at
http://investor.aciworldwide.com/ or use the following numbers for
dial-in participation: US/Canada: (866) 914-7436,
International/Local: +1 (817) 385-9117. Please provide your name,
the conference name ACI Worldwide, Inc. and conference ID code
5556709.
There will be a replay available for two weeks on (855) 859-2056
for US/Canada and +1 (404) 537-3406 for International/Local dial-In
participants.
About ACI WorldwideACI Worldwide, the Universal
Payments (UP) company, powers electronic
payments for more than 5,100 organizations around the world.
More than 1,000 of the largest financial institutions and
intermediaries, as well as thousands of global
merchants, rely on ACI to execute $14 trillion each day in
payments and securities. In addition, myriad organizations utilize
our electronic bill presentment and payment services.
Through our comprehensive suite of software solutions delivered on
customers’ premises or through ACI’s private cloud, we provide
real-time, immediate payments capabilities and enable the
industry’s most complete omni-channel
payments experience. To learn more about ACI, please
visit www.aciworldwide.com. You can also find us on
Twitter @ACI_Worldwide.
About Western UnionThe 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.
© Copyright ACI Worldwide, Inc. 2019
ACI, ACI Worldwide, the ACI logo, ACI Universal Payments, UP,
the UP logo and all ACI product/solution names are trademarks or
registered trademarks of ACI Worldwide, Inc., or one of its
subsidiaries, in the United States, other countries or both. Other
parties' trademarks referenced are the property of their respective
owners.
Product roadmaps are for informational purposes only and may not
be incorporated into a contract or agreement. The development
release and timing of future product releases remains at ACI’s sole
discretion. ACI is providing the following information in
accordance with ACI's standard product communication policies. Any
resulting features, functionality, and enhancements or timing of
release of such features, functionality, and enhancements are at
the sole discretion of ACI and may be modified without notice. All
product roadmap or other similar information does not represent a
commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and
should not be relied upon in making a purchasing decision.
ACI Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains
forward-looking statements based on current expectations that
involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Generally,
forward-looking statements do not relate strictly to historical or
current facts and may include words or phrases such as “believes,”
“will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” and words and phrases
of similar impact. The forward-looking statements are made
pursuant to safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements in this
press release include, but are not limited to, statements
regarding: (i) expectations that the acquisition will increase the
scale of ACI’s On Demand platform business and will accelerate
platform innovation through increased R&D spend and investments
in ACI On Demand’s platform infrastructure; (ii) expectations that
the acquisition accelerates our ability to capitalize on the
growing global payment transaction opportunity over the next five
years, expectations regarding the opportunity for ACI to
strengthen and add scale to our On Demand business, and
expectations that the combination will provide fuel for growth and
increased R&D investment which will benefit both ACI and
Speedpay customers; (iii) expectations that the U.S. bill pay
market continues to grow at steady mid-single digit rates and that
this growth is driven by consumer adoption of digital and mobile
payments, real-time payments growth and digital subscription
billing; (iv) expectations that the acquisition provides compelling
financial benefit to ACI and is expected to materially improve net
adjusted EBITDA margin in ACI’s On Demand segment; and (v)
expectations that the transaction will close by the end of the
second quarter of 2019.
All of the foregoing forward-looking statements are expressly
qualified by the risk factors discussed in our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Such factors include, but are
not limited to, increased competition, the success of our Universal
Payments strategy, demand for our products, restrictions and other
financial covenants in our debt agreement, consolidations and
failures in the financial services industry, customer reluctance to
switch to a new vendor, the accuracy of management’s backlog
estimates, the maturity of certain products, failure to obtain
renewals of customer contracts or to obtain such renewals on
favorable terms, delay or cancellation of customer projects or
inaccurate project completion estimates, volatility and disruption
of the capital and credit markets and adverse changes in the global
economy, our existing levels of debt, impairment of our goodwill or
intangible assets, litigation, future acquisitions, strategic
partnerships and investments, the complexity of our products and
services and the risk that they may contain hidden defects or be
subjected to security breaches or viruses, compliance of our
products with applicable legislation, governmental regulations and
industry standards, our ability to protect customer information
from security breaches or attacks, our compliance with privacy
regulations, our ability to adequately defend our intellectual
property, exposure to credit or operating risks arising from
certain payment funding methods, the cyclical nature of our revenue
and earnings and the accuracy of forecasts due to the concentration
of revenue-generating activity during the final weeks of each
quarter, business interruptions or failure of our information
technology and communication systems, our offshore software
development activities, risks from operating internationally,
including fluctuations in currency exchange rates, exposure to
unknown tax liabilities, volatility in our stock price, and
potential claims associated with our sale and transition of our CFS
assets and liabilities. For a detailed discussion of these
risk factors, parties that are relying on the forward-looking
statements should review our filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our most recently filed Annual
Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
Western Union Safe Harbor Compliance Statement for
Forward-Looking StatementsThis 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; and
(iii) other events, such as: catastrophic events; and
management's ability to identify and manage these and other
risks.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190228005241/en/
ACI Media Relations:Dan Ring+1 (781)
370-3600dan.ring@aciworldwide.com
ACI Investor Relations:John Kraft+1 (239)
403-4627John.kraft@aciworldwide.com
Western Union Media Relations:Claire Treacy+1 (720)
332-0652claire.treacy@westernunion.com
Western Union Investor Relations:Mike Salop+1(720)
332-8276mike.salop@westernunion.com
Western Union (NYSE:WU)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Western Union (NYSE:WU)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024