KING OF PRUSSIA, Penn. — Money Centers of America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of iGames Entertainment, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: IGME), and Genpass ATM Solutions, Inc. say they want to make a "substantially better and higher cash offer" to purchase Game Financial Corporation than the $43 million that Certegy, Inc. agreed to pay for the company earlier this month.
Travelers Express, a subsidiary of Viad Corp., on Feb. 20 agreed to sell Game Financial to Certegy Check Services, which provides payroll check cashing services in more than 6,000 locations. Game Financial provides check cashing, debit and credit card cash advance and ATM services to approximately 60 gaming establishments nationwide.
"The acquisition of Game Financial will significantly broaden our cash access services beyond payroll check cashing, and will increase our presence in the rapidly growing gaming industry," said Jeff Carbiener, senior vice president and group executive for Certegy Check Services, when the sale was announced. "There is a high demand for single source cash access solutions. Providing these services is a natural extension of our check cashing product line."
According to a news release issued by iGames Entertainment, Money Centers and Genpass made a counter offer for Game Financial, which Viad rejected on Feb. 24.
"As demonstrated by our recent acquisition of Available Money, Inc. and our pending acquisition of Chex Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Equitex, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQTX), we are committed to continued expansion of our presence in the gaming industry and have the experience necessary to complete a transaction," said Christopher Wolfington, chief executive of Money Centers.. "We feel our team's knowledge of Game Financial's customer base makes us uniquely qualified to offer a higher and better offer to the Viad shareholders."
Wolfington added, "We have made known to Viad our interest in Game Financial for several years. Obviously we were disappointed that we were not given an opportunity to make an offer when the decision was made to sell Game Financial, and that Viad refused to entertain a competing offer."
"We had previously been told by (Viad) management that a deal would not be considered until later in 2004. We had every expectation that we would be allowed to compete for the acquisition once the timing was right," said Bill Raymond, president of Genpass ATM Solutions.
Money Centers and Genpass "remain ready and willing to pursue a transaction that will realize more value for Viad's shareholders than the Certegy sale," according to the release.
Viad has also announced plans to spin off its Travelers Express business.
