Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• In the wake of a rival bid from Euronet Worldwide Inc., Ant Financial Services Group increased its offer for MoneyGram International Inc. from $880 million to $1.2 billion, or from $13.25 per share to $18. Euronet offered $1 billion for MoneyGram after Ant made its original bid. A special MoneyGram shareholder meeting to vote on the amended Ant offer is set for May 16.
• Following Ant Financial’s higher bid for MoneyGram International Inc., Euronet Worldwide Inc. issued a statement recounting the alleged downsides of China-based Ant buying MoneyGram and also saying Euronet “intends to review” the revised offer.
• Rego Payment Architecture Inc. announced it has successfully tested the alpha version of its Oink mobile-payments service on Amazon.com. Oink is aimed at children 18 years old and younger.
• Intercontinental Hotels Group said a cybersecurity firm it hired has eliminated malware that it believes accessed card data at franchisee locations in the Americas between Sept. 29 and Dec. 29.
• Restaurant chain Shoney’s apparently was hit by a payment card data breach between late December and early March, KrebsOnSecurity reported; in a related development, Best American Hospitality Corp., which manages some Shoney’s restaurants, issued a statement saying remotely installed malware on the point of sale equipment in some of the restaurants captured payment card information.
• Computer Services Inc., a provider of payments and other financial technologies, promoted David Culbertson, a 28-year veteran with the company, to chief operating officer.
• Merchant processor iPayment Inc. appointed Timothy Stahl vice president for risk. Stahl most recently was vice president for risk management and operations with CardConnect.
