(9 February 2016 – Australia) On Friday, online currency trading platform OFX (formerly OzForex) ended buyout discussions with Western Union after it failed to receive a binding offer.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, OFX said: “The Company made clear in communications to the market at the time that there was no certainty a binding offer would eventuate.”
“Although discussions continued for some months, Western Union has not submitted a binding proposal. Accordingly, the board of OFX has terminated discussions with Western Union.”
The company has lowered its full-year earnings guidance after missing its forecast rage for the December quarter, saying rebranding to “OFX” was largely the cause of the miss, with quarter fee and commission income increasing 9 percent on the prior corresponding quarter, which was below expectations.
The news prompted OFX shares to drop by 42 percent to A$1.79 on Monday after ending the week prior at A$3.09.
Significantly, the latest round of East & Partners’ Australian Business Foreign Exchange markets program, released in November 2015 saw OFX drop overall market share by around 11 percent.