MoneyGram Mulls Takeover Interest From Stellar Development

Cross-border transfer company Stellar Development Foundation and private equity firm Advent International are mulling the acquisition of MoneyGram, according to a Bloomberg report citing sources.

The money transfer giant saw stock prices climb 11 percent at roughly 1:13 p.m. in New York on Wednesday (July 20). The stock prices surged 265 percent across the past 12 months.

MoneyGram has been a hot property for takeover interest as digital payments moved away from legacy services. China’s Ant Group had been looking to buy MoneyGram in 2017 but declined due to regulatory pushback. Western Union also looked to buy MoneyGram last year, sources told Bloomberg.

Silicon Valley nonprofit Stellar Development supports the Stellar Network, which is an open-source platform to assist people in moving money globally in different currencies via the blockchain. Boston-headquartered Advent invests in the payments sector and has invested in companies including Vantiv and Worldpay.

MoneyGram-as-a-service rolled out in March along with opening avenues for the digital G-Coin. MoneyGram CEO and chairman Alex Holmes said the move is “the next phase of our digital transformation.” He also said that MoneyGram-as-a-service was created due to the high demand for third-party access.

Stellar Development Foundation’s Senior Director, Ecosystem Lisa Nestor told PYMNTS that the digital asset space is going to be big and will become home to a number of industry heads. He pointed to bitcoin, stablecoins, Dogecoin and others that can come together on a streamlined network.

MoneyGram closed a $415 million private offering of $415 million aggregate principal amount of 5.375 percent in senior secured notes due 2026, Yahoo Finance reported on Wednesday (July 21).

MoneyGram specializes in digital peer-to-peer (P2P) payments and is on a mission to mobilize the movement of money. The company serves nearly 150 million people around the world.