The electronic bill payment market has been steadily evolving as consumers increasingly embrace digital and mobile payment channels. As billers seek more efficient ways to engage customers and streamline collections, scale and technology investment have become critical competitive advantages. Against this backdrop, ACI Worldwide’s acquisition of Speedpay represents a significant development in the electronic bill payment market, bringing together two established providers to expand capabilities across multiple industries and support the continued migration toward digital billing and payments.
The transaction also reflects a broader trend within the payments industry, where providers are consolidating platforms and resources to better serve customers while preparing for emerging opportunities in real-time payments and digital billing. As organizations continue to modernize payment operations, investments in bill payment infrastructure and customer experience are becoming increasingly important differentiators.
ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, and The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement, today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for ACI to acquire Speedpay, Western Union’s United States bill pay business, for $750 million in an all-cash transaction. This acquisition brings together two leading bill pay portfolios in the rapidly-evolving U.S. electronic bill pay and presentment (EBPP) market.
Together, the ACI and Speedpay bill pay solutions will serve more than 4,000 customers across the U.S., bringing expanded reach in existing and complementary segments such as consumer finance, insurance, healthcare, higher education, utilities, government and mortgage. This will enable the combined business to more effectively serve a rapidly-evolving category as well as pursue additional vertical segments.
The acquisition of Speedpay will increase the scale of ACI’s On Demand platform business and will accelerate platform innovation through increased R&D spend and investments in ACI On Demand’s platform infrastructure. ACI will bring together the Speedpay and UP Bill Payment platforms into a unified bill payment platform that will support billions of transactions. Moreover, the combined ACI and Speedpay team of bill payments experts will bring together decades of vertical experience and payments thought leadership, developing and delivering end-to-end solutions that more efficiently address specific business needs and add more value to customers and partners.
“This acquisition reinforces ACI’s ‘any payment, every possibility’ vision and accelerates our ability to capitalize on the growing global payment transaction opportunity over the next five years. It presents a great opportunity for ACI to strengthen and add scale to our On Demand business, and provides fuel for growth and increased R&D investment which will benefit both ACI and Speedpay customers,” said Phil Heasley, president and CEO, ACI Worldwide. “We are excited to welcome the talented Speedpay team into the ACI family. With decades of proven success, the ACI and Speedpay teams have a deep understanding of bill payments, and the combination of our portfolios delivers an unmatched value proposition.”
With more than 15 billion transactions in 2018, the U.S. bill pay market continues to grow at steady mid-single digit rates. This growth is driven by factors such as increased consumer adoption of digital and mobile payments, the move to real-time payments and digital subscription billing.
Hikmet Ersek, president and CEO of Western Union, stated, “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. Our strategy remains focused on expanding our digital services, leveraging our platform to unlock new cross-border, cross-currency payments opportunities, and generating additional operating efficiencies.”
The addition of the Speedpay business, generating more than $350 million in revenue and $90 million in adjusted EBITDA in 2018, provides compelling financial benefit to ACI and is expected to materially improve net adjusted EBITDA margin in ACI’s On Demand segment. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of the second quarter of 2019.
Centerview Partners LLC is acting as financial advisor to Western Union and BofA Merrill Lynch is acting as financial advisor to ACI. Sidley Austin LLP is Western Union’s counsel and Jones Day is advising ACI.
In a separate press release issued today, ACI announced fourth quarter and full year 2018 financial results. The press release is available in the Investor Relations section of ACI’s website www.aciworldwide.com.
ACI will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. EST today to discuss the transaction as well as fourth quarter and full year 2018 financial results. Interested persons may access a real-time audio broadcast of the teleconference at http://investor.aciworldwide.com/ or use the following numbers for dial-in participation: US/Canada: (866) 914-7436, International/Local: +1 (817) 385-9117. Please provide your name, the conference name ACI Worldwide, Inc. and conference ID code 5556709.
There will be a replay available for two weeks on (855) 859-2056 for US/Canada and +1 (404) 537-3406 for International/Local dial-In participants.
The combination of ACI Worldwide and Speedpay underscores the growing importance of scale, technology investment, and innovation in the electronic bill payment market. By unifying their platforms and expanding their reach across key verticals, the companies are positioning themselves to support increasing transaction volumes and evolving customer expectations for faster, more convenient payment experiences.
As digital billing and real-time payments continue to gain traction, providers that can deliver flexible, scalable solutions will be best positioned to capture future growth. The acquisition highlights how strategic consolidation can strengthen payment infrastructure while creating new opportunities to serve both billers and consumers more effectively.
