NAPLES, Fla. and DENVER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 28, 2019--
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 Lynchis 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 Worldwide
ACI 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 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.
© 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 Statements
This 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
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; 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/
Source: ACI Worldwide
ACI Media Relations:
Dan Ring
+1 (781) 370-3600
dan.ring@aciworldwide.com
ACI Investor Relations:
John Kraft
+1 (239) 403-4627
John.kraft@aciworldwide.com
Western Union Media Relations:
Claire Treacy
+1 (720)
332-0652
claire.treacy@westernunion.com
Western Union Investor Relations:
Mike Salop
+1(720)
332-8276
mike.salop@westernunion.com
