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Western Union to sell Speedpay to ACI for $750M in cash

March 1, 2019

ACI Worldwide is buying Speedpay, a U.S. bill payment service, from Western Union for $750 million in cash, according to separate announcements from the companies.

Speedpay allows consumers to pay a variety of bills including electricity, mortgages, auto loans, insurance, government finance and other payments. The business generated more than $350 million in revenue for Western Union, representing 6 percent of the company’s total revenue for the year.

"This acquisition reinforces ACI’s any payment, any possibility vision, and accelerates our ability to capitalize on the growing payment transaction opportunity over the next five years," Phil Heasley, CEO of ACI Worldwide said in the company release.

"Divesting the Speedpay business allows us to concentrate our resources on our cross-border money movement strategies and monetize a non-core asset for our shareholders," Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek said in a release from the company.

The sale is expected to close by the end of the second quarter. Western Union is expected to report a pre-tax gain of $500 million on the sale.