News

Western Union buys stake in UK top-up provider

August 17, 2003

DENVER -- Western Union Financial Services, a subsidiary of First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC), has purchased a majority stake in Eposs Limited, a Cambridge, UK provider of payment solutions for the prepaid cellular, or mobile top-up, market.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"Prepaid cellular, or top-up, is one of the fastest-growing segments of the payment services category," said Christina Gold, president of Western Union Financial Services, in a news release. "We've specifically targeted prepaid mobile in our acquisition and development efforts because of its strong growth and the demographic link between these consumers and the Western Union customer profile."

Eposs is well positioned in the fast-growing European market and is making inroads into Asia where prepaid mobile growth is strong, Gould said.

Eposs sells prepaid time in the UK, other European countries and Singapore. In June, Eposs signed a joint venture with Shanghai, China-based CRC E-Store, a telecommunications services firm, to provide electronic content including phone top-ups that will be sold at CRC E-Stores' bank and retailer terminals throughout China.

Eposs' electronic products are sold through integration with retailers' existing point-of-sale systems and through advanced multimedia vending machines, according to the release.

The two companies believe that Western Union's and First Data's brands and business relationships will help Eposs expand globally. Western Union has approximately 165,000 agent locations in 195 countries and territories, and First Data serves more than three million merchant locations.

"With the recent success of our pilot launches into the USA, China, Singapore and Germany, and a growing number of other international opportunities, we recognized the necessity for a strong partner to facilitate our global expansion," said Michael Norton, Eposs chief executive.

According to the release, the Eposs relationship complements the Western Union Prepaid Service in the U.S., which provides real-time payments for large mobile carriers through the Western Union Agent network.