Bridgepoint acquires Moneycorp

Harriet Bailey
01 September 2014

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Bridgepoint has acquired foreign exchange provider Moneycorp for ТЃ212m from RBS Special Opportunities Fund.

Bridgepoint stated customers in the FX market are choosing alternative lenders over banks, which in its view provide poor value and service. The GP also highlighted the company's international development potential.

The UK international payments market is expected to grow annually by 11% as trust in specialist providers increases.

In July 2010, RBS sold card payment service provider RBS WorldPay to Advent International and Bain Capital for an enterprise value of £2.025bn – marking the largest transaction in the UK across the previous three years. As part of the transaction, which was mandated on the EU level due to the government's involvement in the bank, RBS retained a 19.9% stake in the company. In 2008, RBS became 81% owned by the state.

International payment service providers have seen an increase in private equity investment recently as customers look for alternatives to banks. In June, Index Ventures, IA Ventures and Kima Ventures took part in a $25m round for London-based TransferWise alongside Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson.

Company
Moneycorp is the trading name of TTT Moneycorp, which was established in 1962 and started dealing in foreign exchange in 1979. It has a multichannel offering, including a fully integrated online payments and telephone platform. It handled 6.4 million transactions last year worth more than £10bn in 100 different currencies.

In 2013, the 945-strong company acquired Thomas Cook's corporate foreign exchange business. It generated £97.2m of revenue in 2013. Headquartered in London, Moneycorp has offices in the UK, Ireland, Spain and the US. It also has retail bureau de change businesses at 61 airports including Heathrow and Gatwick.

People
Mark Horgan is CEO of Moneycorp. Stephen Green is partner at Bridgepoint. Lindsey McMurray represents SOF Investments, which advises RBS Asset Management.

Advisers
Equity – DC Advisory (M&A); Deloitte (Corporate finance); Shearman & Sterling (Legal); Oliver Wyman (Commercial due diligence); Marsh (Insurance due diligence).
Vendor – Canaccord (M&A); KPMG (Financial due diligence); Slaughter and May (Legal); BCG (Commercial due diligence).
Management – Dean Street (Corporate finance); Charles Russell (Legal).