LEAWOOD, Kan. - Euronet Worldwide Inc., electronic-payments provider, has signed a stock-purchase agreement to acquire New York-based Envios de Valores La Nacional Corp. and its U.S. based affiliate, La Nacional.
According to a news release, Euronet, through its subsidiary, Euronet Payments & Remittance Inc., will acquire 100 percent of La Nacional's common stock. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2007.
Established in 1984, La Nacional is a consumer-to-consumer brand for remittances to Latin America, primarily to the Dominican Republic. La Nacional provides money-transfer services from 15 states in the United States, including New York, New Jersey and Florida - three of the country's top-six remittance-sending states.
Approximately half La Nacional's distribution volume goes to the Dominican Republic.
According to the Inter-American Development Bank, the Dominican Republic is one of the largest receivers of remittances in Latin America, receiving approximately $2.7 billion in 2005. An estimated $1.6 billion (59 percent) of that total is sent from the United States, primarily from New York.
Nearly 700,000 Dominicans in the United States are estimated to send money home on a regular basis, according to a report from Bendixen & Associates.
Euronet says the La Nacional acquisition also will strengthen its retail presence in the northeastern part of the United States. In November, Euronet also announced plans to acquire Ria Envia Inc., a global money-transfer. The company expects that deal to close by the second quarter of the year.
"La Nacional will be an excellent addition to the Ria money-transfer business. Through La Nacional, we have the opportunity to gain a strong retail foothold in New York, the second-largest remittance sending state, and other neighboring states," said Michael J. Brown, Euronet's chairman and chief executive. "Both Ria and La Nacional have established high-potential money-transfer corridors from the U.S., and internationally beyond the traditional U.S.-to-Mexico corridor."
