Freshfields is representing Western Union, the global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, on all aspects of the sale of Western Union Business Solutions for $910 million in cash to a private equity consortium of Goldfinch Partners and Baupost Group. Western Union Business Solutions facilitates cross-border, cross-currency payments and foreign exchange solutions for businesses globally. The complex transaction is described here.

The Freshfields corporate/M&A team is led by counsel Zheng (Jonathan) Zhou, associates Vinita Sithapathy, Sally Wu and Craig Langhamer, and partner Ethan Klingsberg, all from the New York office, and associate David Chen from Silicon Valley. The bank regulatory team is led by partner Brian Rance and associate Francesca Loreto in New York, partner Florian Klimscha and associates Eva Schneider and Christian Oberkersch in Vienna, and partner Emma Rachmaninov and associates Charlotte Witherington and Fionn O’Toole in London. Employee benefits and labor law matters are being handled by partner Maj Vaseghi in Silicon Valley and associate Jordan Salzman in New York, as well as partner Karin Buzanich-Sommeregger and associates Leonhard Prasser and Agnieszka Branding in Vienna. Tax matters are being led by partner Robert Scarborough and associate David Mitchell in New York, with support from associates Katharina Kubik and Lukas Allram in Vienna. Data privacy and IP matters are being led by partner Mena Kaplan and associate Laurie Morgan in New York, counsel Peter Jaffe in DC and Gernot Fritz in Vienna. Partner Meghan Rissmiller and associate Ilana Kattan are handling antitrust matters out of DC, while foreign investment regulatory matters are being handled by partner Aimen Mir and counsel Christine Laciak in DC and associate Lukas Pomaroli in Vienna. Compliance advice is being provided by counsel Stephanie Brown Cripps in New York and associate Andrew Bulovsky in DC. Financing advice is being provided by partner Kyle Lakin in New York and corporate support on UK matters is being provided by associate Carl Hotton in London. Corporate support on Austrian matters is being provided by partner Farid Sigari-Majd and associates Dora Rendessy, Stephan Roedler and Maria Tumpel.

ENDS