Visa to Undertake Assessment of Stake in Monitise
Sep 18, 2014 4:22 AM ET
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Visa to Undertake Assessment of Stake in Monitise
Follows Multi-Year Global Alliance with Monitise for Mobile Money Platform
Development Services
Business Wire
FOSTER CITY, Calif. -- September 18, 2014
Longstanding partners in the mobile sector Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) and Monitise plc
entered into an alliance agreement in 2009. At the same time, Visa began
investing in Monitise. Given the maturation of Monitise as a company, Visa is
considering its options with respect to the investment and has engaged J.P.
Morgan Securities Plc to assist. Visa will also be lessening its dependence on
external mobile development resources.
In 2009, in conjunction with its commercial partnership, Visa invested in
Monitise as a 14.4% owner of the company in order to provide capital support
to a leader in the evolution of the mobile payments sector. Over time, Visa’s
holdings have been reduced to its current 5.5% stake in the company. This
reduction in ownership and associated influence is consistent with Visa’s
investment practice to seed emerging players and, over time, taper that
influence as the partner company grows.
Under their agreement, Monitise will provide Visa with mobile platform
development services through 2016. As both Visa and the payments industry
evolve at a rapid pace, Visa intends to continue increasing its investment in
its own in-house capabilities and, as a result, reducing its use of external
resources.
“Visa has benefited substantially from our relationship with and financial
investment in Monitise,” said Bill Sheedy, EVP of Corporate Strategy, Visa
Inc. “Visa invested in Monitise as an early thought leader with a vision of
making mobile banking mainstream and extending that functionality to mobile
payments. Over the past 5 years, Monitise has successfully demonstrated its
leadership in the sector underscored by the company’s marquee clients,
multiple network partnerships and recent agreement with IBM. Consistent with
Visa’s increased investment in our in-house capabilities, and the substantial
growth in Monitise, Visa is considering its options with regard to its
Monitise stake.”
About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a global payments technology company thatconnects
consumers, businesses, financialinstitutions, and governments in morethan
200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable
electronicpayments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing
networks —VisaNet — that is capable ofhandling more than 56,000 transaction
messages asecond, with fraud protection for consumers and assuredpayment for
merchants.Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set
rates andfees forconsumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its
financialinstitution customers to offer consumers more choices:pay now with
debit, payahead of time with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For
more information, visit usa.visa.com/about-visa, visacorporate.tumblr.com and
@VisaNews.
J.P. Morgan Securities plc ("J.P. Morgan"), which is authorised by the
Prudential Regulatory Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct
Authority and the Prudential Regulatory Authority, is acting exclusively as
financial adviser to Visa Inc. ("Visa") only and no one else in relation to
the assessment by Visa of its stake in Monitise plc and will not regard any
other person as a client in relation to such matter and will not be
responsible to anyone other than Visa for providing the protections afforded
to its clients or for providing advice in relation to such matter. This does
not exclude any responsibilities which J.P. Morgan may have under the UK
Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 or the regulatory regime established
thereunder.
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