US: Alibaba affiliate confident over rival offer for Moneygram

The plan faced a major hurdle this week as US electronic payments firm Euronet Worldwide launched a higher $1 billion bid for MoneyGram on Tuesday, arguing that its all-American deal would face less regulatory scrutiny than a lower bid by Ant.

Ant Financial Services, the world’s largest financial technology company, is confident of closing a deal for US money-transfer firm MoneyGram International, a top executive told the NYT despite a higher bid from a US rival.

The proposed $880 million deal is a first major step by Ant, the payment affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, to expand its business overseas, as the firm, valued at $60 billion, sets itself up for a public offering.

“MoneyGram we view as very attractive because it gives a global network of remittance capability and kind of an omnichannel approach that connects us,” Douglas Feagin, head of Ant’s international strategy, said in a phone interview.

“That’s why we’ve entered the transaction and look forward to completing the deal with them.”

But the plan faced a major hurdle this week as US electronic payments firm Euronet Worldwide launched a higher $1 billion bid for MoneyGram on Tuesday, arguing that its all-American deal would face less regulatory scrutiny than a lower bid by Ant.

Full Content: New York Times

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