Ant Financial hikes MoneyGram offer by 36 per cent to outbid Euronet

BEIJING: China’s Ant Financial has sweetened its bid for MoneyGram International Inc by 36 per cent, beating a rival offer to gain approval from the US electronic payment firm’s board, although it still faces regulatory hurdles.

Ant, the finance affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, increased its bid to US$18 per share in cash from US$13.25 to value MoneyGram at around US$1.2 billion.

That compares with an offer of US$15.20 per share from Euronet Worldwide Inc last month.

A successful deal would be Ant’s first major acquisition in a developed market. But first it needs to clear regulatory reviews, including one by the Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS), a US inter-agency panel that looks at acquisitions for national security risks.

CFIUS has been a stumbling block for several Chinese deals in the United States and a deal with Euronet is likely to be more agreeable to US policymakers amid rising tensions between China and the United States over trade and foreign policy.

Euronet has said that Chinese ownership could compromise the relationship between law enforcement and MoneyGram when investigating money laundering and “terrorist financing”.

Ant has sought to allay concerns and on Monday reiterated that any data collected on MoneyGram users in the US will continue to reside on US-based servers and that MoneyGram will operate as an independent unit. Euronet has previously countered that the location of the servers is irrelevant.

Ant and Moneygram said in a joint statement that they have made progress toward obtaining the regulatory approvals necessary to complete the transaction, including winning US antitrust clearance. They are confident the deal will close this year, they added.

The news comes one day after sources said China’s Anbang Insurance Group will let its agreement to acquire US annuities and life insurer Fidelity & Guaranty Life. for US$1.6 billion lapse, after failing to secure all the necessary regulatory approvals.

While Anbang’s acquisition had received clearance from CFIUS it could not get past some US state regulators.

Dallas-based MoneyGram is one of the biggest firms in the global remittance market, offering services in around 350,000 stores across 200 countries and offers Ant a major leg-up in its plans to build a cross-border commerce network, centered in Asia. — Reuters