Six weeks after billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Financial announced a plan to take over MoneyGram International, a little-known Kansas company is swooping in with a higher bid. Euronet Worldwide is offering $15.20 a share for the money-transfer service, topping Ant’s $13.25 bid, Bloomberg reports. Shares of MoneyGram jumped 25 percent to $15.77 in New York after the announcement on Tuesday, suggesting investors expect a bidding war. Euronet rose less than 1% to $83.22. Ant’s plan to take over MoneyGram was presented by the two companies as a fait accompli, and is supposed to help Ant expand outside China and probably faces scrutiny from a Treasury Department agency that reviews foreign purchases of US companies. Michael Brown, Euronet’s chief executive officer, said his bid is superior because it’s more likely to get approved.
You must log in to post a comment.