Little-known firm challenges Alibaba, MoneyGram deal

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.