PLANO, Texas, May 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Alliance Data
Systems Corporation (NYSE: ADS), a leading global provider of
data-driven marketing and loyalty solutions, today announced its
Columbus, Ohio-based card services
business, a premier provider of branded private label, co-brand and
commercial credit programs, and Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG), the
largest specialty jewelry retailer in the U.S., signed an agreement
under which Alliance Data will acquire prime-only credit quality
accounts (balance weighted > 700 FICO score) with a value of
approximately $1 billion in
receivables from Signet's existing credit card portfolio. In
addition, the two companies entered into a long-term agreement
where Alliance Data will become the primary issuer of private-label
credit cards and related marketing services for Signet, building on
its existing relationship with Zale brands (including Zales and
Piercing Pagoda). Alliance Data will also acquire a portion of
Signet's existing customer care operations in Ohio, including approximately 250 employees,
as part of the transaction. Closing of the transaction is expected
in the fourth quarter of 2017, subject to regulatory approval and
customary closing conditions, and without disruption to Signet's
business during the holiday season. Further terms of the agreement
were not disclosed.
Signet is the largest specialty jewelry retailer in the U.S.,
U.K. and Canada, with
approximately 3,600 stores under the name brands Kay
Jewelers, Zales, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry, H.Samuel,
Ernest Jones, Peoples and Piercing
Pagoda.
As the provider of private label credit and marketing services
for Signet, Alliance Data significantly increases its existing
strong presence in the jewelry space. Alliance Data will underwrite
new accounts that are consistent with the prime-only credit quality
portion of the portfolio that Alliance Data will acquire and
expects that the performance of the Signet Jewelers credit card
portfolio, once acquired, will also be consistent with its overall
private-label credit card portfolio. The remaining portion of
Signet's credit card portfolio may be acquired and/or serviced by
other parties not affiliated with Alliance Data.
Alliance Data will employ its best-in-class data assets and
analytical prowess to provide advanced analytics and insights to
drive top line sales across all Signet's brands. Building on its
existing and highly valued relationship with Zale brands, Alliance
Data will create and implement marketing-driven private label
credit programs for the additional U.S. Signet brands. These
multi-channel marketing efforts will extend brand affinity both
beyond and among cardmembers, focusing on customer life stage
marketing to drive relevant and timely offers and brand engagement.
In addition, Signet will have access to Alliance Data's full suite
of innovative mobile marketing solutions, including mobile card
acquisition via phone and tablet, and robust SMS marketing
platforms to ensure a full reach of Signet's unique customer
demographics and respective channel preferences for brand
engagement. Alliance Data's Epsilon business will work in close
partnership with Alliance Data's card services business to deliver
personalized marketing services to increase customer engagement.
This will be an expansion of the digital advertising services that
Epsilon's Conversant® business currently provides to
Zale brands.
"We are pleased to partner with Alliance Data, a leading
provider of branded credit cards and marketing services with
extensive industry experience, as part of the strategic sale of our
consumer credit portfolio. Our new credit programs in
partnership with Alliance Data will embrace the same Customer First
OmniChannel approach by providing data-driven credit marketing
services, customized payment plans and flexible credit options to
our customers," said Mark Light,
Signet's chief executive officer. "Our partnership with Alliance
Data will help us continue to grow our portfolio of cardmembers
while allowing us to focus on what we do best – delivering
high-quality, differentiated products and an outstanding customer
experience."
"We are so delighted to partner with one of the world's largest
specialty jewelry retailers with a proven track record of
delivering high-quality products with a focus on engaging customer
experiences. We look forward to the sharing of best practices, as
Alliance Data brings to the table decades of experience in the
jewelry vertical and extensive cross-channel retail and digital
marketing expertise to help Signet deliver additional value to its
customers," said Melisa Miller,
president of Alliance Data's card services business. "This
partnership further underscores jewelry as a core vertical for
Alliance Data. We are fully committed to grow Signet's top line
sales as well as the private label card program and drive customer
loyalty through data-driven lifecycle marketing efforts. In
addition, we are aligned with Signet in our unwavering focus on
customer service excellence, and look forward to seamlessly
integrating Signet associates into our award-winning customer care
operations upon closing."
About Signet Jewelers
Signet Jewelers
Limited is the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry.
Signet operates approximately 3,600 stores primarily under the name
brands of Kay Jewelers, Zales, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry,
H.Samuel, Ernest Jones, Peoples and Piercing Pagoda. Further
information on Signet is available at www.signetjewelers.com.
See also www.kay.com, www.zales.com, www.jared.com,
www.hsamuel.co.uk, www.ernestjones.co.uk, www.peoplesjewellers.com,
and www.pagoda.com.
About Alliance Data's card services business
Alliance
Data's card services business is a leading provider of tailored
marketing and loyalty solutions, delivered through branded credit
programs that drive more profitable relationships between our brand
partners and their cardmembers. We offer private label, co-brand,
and commercial products to many of the world's most recognizable
brands across a multitude of channels.
We uphold our Know more. Sell more.® promise by
leveraging unmatched customer insights, advanced analytics, and
broad-reaching innovative capabilities. It's how we deliver
increased sales to our partners, build enduring loyalty to their
brands, and provide more value to our cardmembers. Alliance Data's
card services business is a proud part of the Alliance Data
enterprise. To learn more, visit www.knowmoresellmore.com or follow
us on Twitter @Know_SellMore.
About Alliance Data
Alliance Data® (NYSE:
ADS) is a leading global provider of data-driven marketing and
loyalty solutions serving large, consumer-based industries. The
Company creates and deploys customized solutions, enhancing the
critical customer marketing experience; the result is measurably
changing consumer behavior while driving business growth and
profitability for some of today's most recognizable brands.
Alliance Data helps its clients create and increase customer
loyalty through solutions that engage millions of customers each
day across multiple touch points using traditional, digital, mobile
and emerging technologies. An S&P 500 and Fortune 500 company
headquartered in Plano, Texas,
Alliance Data consists of three businesses that together employ
more than 17,000 associates at approximately 100 locations
worldwide.
Alliance Data's card services business is a leading provider of
marketing-driven branded credit card programs. Epsilon®
is a leading provider of multichannel, data-driven technologies and
marketing services, and also includes Conversant®, a
leader in personalized digital marketing. LoyaltyOne®
owns and operates the AIR MILES® Reward Program,
Canada's premier coalition loyalty
program, and Netherlands-based
BrandLoyalty, a global provider of tailor-made loyalty programs for
grocers.
Investor information about Alliance Data's businesses may be
found here.
Follow Alliance Data on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and
YouTube.
Forward Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section
21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking
statements give our expectations or forecasts of future events and
can generally be identified by the use of words such as "believe,"
"expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "project," "plan,"
"likely," "may," "should" or other words or phrases of similar
import. Similarly, statements that describe our business strategy,
outlook, objectives, plans, intentions or goals also are
forward-looking statements.
We believe that our expectations are based on reasonable
assumptions. Forward-looking statements, however, are subject to a
number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from the projections, anticipated results or
other expectations expressed in this release, and no assurances can
be given that our expectations will prove to have been correct.
These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to,
factors set forth in the Risk Factors section in our Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year, which may be
updated in Item 1A of, or elsewhere in, our Quarterly Reports on
Form 10-Q filed for periods subsequent to such Form 10-K.
Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made,
and we undertake no obligation, other than as required by
applicable law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, subsequent events,
anticipated or unanticipated circumstances or otherwise.
Contact:
Alliance Data
Tiffany
Louder – Investor
Relations
214-494-3048
tiffany.louder@alliancedata.com
Steve Balet
FTI
Consulting
212-850-5611
alliancedata@fticonsulting.com
Shelley Whiddon –
Media
214-494-3811
shelley.whiddon@alliancedata.com
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SOURCE Alliance Data Systems Corporation