First Closing Excludes the European Operations
of Western Union Business Solutions
Company Receives Full Proceeds of Sale
Second Closing Expected to be Completed in the
Second Half of 2022
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a global leader in
cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, today
announced the Company has completed the first closing of the
divestiture of its Business Solutions segment to a consortium of
Goldfinch Partners, LLC (“Goldfinch”) and The Baupost Group, LLC
(“Baupost”) for approximately $910 million in cash.
As previously announced, the transaction will close in two
stages. In this first closing, Western Union Business Solutions,
excluding the business that is operated through Western Union
International Bank in the European Union and the United Kingdom,
was divested. In the second closing, which is expected to be
completed in the second half of 2022, the remaining Western Union
Business Solutions business will transfer.
According to the terms of the transaction, Western Union
received the full proceeds from the sale in this first closing.
WU-G
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," "targets," "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, 2021.
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 other events, such as public
health emergencies, epidemics, or pandemics, such as COVID-19,
civil unrest, war, terrorism, natural disasters, 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 digital, mobile and internet-based services,
card associations, and card-based payment providers, and with
digital currencies and related exchanges and protocols, and other
innovations in technology and business models; geopolitical
tensions, political conditions and related actions, including trade
restrictions and government sanctions, 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, clients, or other partners;
deterioration in customer confidence in our business, or in money
transfer and payment service providers generally; failure to
maintain our agent network and business relationships under terms
consistent with or more advantageous to us than those currently in
place; 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; 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; 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; changes in tax laws, or their interpretation,
any subsequent regulation, and potential related state income tax
impacts, and unfavorable resolution of tax contingencies; 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; our ability to realize the
anticipated benefits from restructuring-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; failure to manage credit and fraud risks presented by
our agents, clients, and consumers; adverse rating actions by
credit rating agencies; our ability to protect our trademarks,
patents, copyrights, and 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; 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, data use,
the transfer of personal data between jurisdictions, and
information security, including with respect to the General Data
Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) in the European Union ("EU") and the
California Consumer Privacy Act; 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) 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 and payments. Western
Union’s platform provides seamless cross-border flows and its
leading global financial network bridges more than 200 countries
and territories and over 130 currencies. We connect consumers,
businesses, financial institutions, and governments through one of
the world’s widest reaching networks, accessing billions of bank
accounts, millions of digital wallets and cards, and a substantial
global network of retail locations. Western Union connects the
world to bring boundless possibilities within reach. For more
information, visit www.westernunion.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220303006025/en/
Media Relations: Claire Treacy
Claire.Treacy@westernunion.com
Investor Relations: Tom Hadley
WesternUnion.IR@westernunion.com
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