MEDIA RELEASE PR40642
On Top Down Under - ReD Australia Sells for AUD 353 Million (EUR243 Million)
LONDON, July 30/PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
After impressive growth, Retail Decision's (ReD) Australian fuel card and
pre-paid businesses have expanded from modest minnows to market leading
enterprises.
The announcement of the sale of ReD's Australian concerns to US fleet and
corporate card specialist Wright Express Corporation for AUD 353 million
reflects the substantial progress made under ReD's leadership and expertise,
to its value today as a highly lucrative and desirable acquisition.
In the ten years since ReD bought the Australian fuel card business, the
company has flourished, with its management team steering it to increasing
levels of profitability and impressive business growth, to become the premier
multi-branded fuel card service in the country. This success was matched with
the energising of the pre-paid card business ReD bought five years ago, with
the company taking it from loss-maker to the fast growing and profitable
market leader that it is today.
The value of these market-leading assets under ReD's management is
recognised with this move. Meanwhile, ReD will continue to concentrate on its
proven expertise in fraud prevention across the globe, including Australia.
As one of the world's foremost providers of payment fraud prevention, ReD
will continue to develop and internationalise its business, and is excited by
the prospect of on-going expansion into emerging markets in the future, using
the same expertise which nurtured ReD Australia to its current value.
Carl Clump, CEO of ReD, said: "The astounding growth of our
businesses in Australia is a credit to all our staff over the years, and I
would like to thank them all very publicly. Under ReD's management our
Australian Fuel Card business has gone from being the number three
multi-branded fuel card to being the market leader. Additionally, its
profitability has increased some 15 fold over that ten year period.
Since 2005, when ReD bought its pre-paid business in
Australia, the business has grown from a small loss-making concern to a
profitable and rapidly growing market leader with a dominant market share.
These are two excellent assets which will continue to go from strength to
strength under Wright Express's ownership.
ReD will now put all its efforts behind its renowned,
international payments fraud prevention business. We are very excited about
the opportunities ahead of us on a global basis for our fraud prevention
activities"
About Retail Decisions
Retail Decisions (ReD) is a world leader in card fraud prevention and
payment processing. A specialist supplier to the payments industry worldwide,
ReD has over 20 years experience in the fraud prevention market. Its
blue-chip international clients come from the global telecommunications,
retail, travel, petroleum, banking and the broader e-commerce sectors. They
include Wal-Mart, Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Sears, Tesco, Texaco, Shell, Asda,
Boots, John Lewis, The Carphone Warehouse, Comet, Travelocity, T-Mobile and
Virgin Mobile. The company has offices in the United States, UK, Mainland
Europe, Australia, China and South Africa with representation in India,
Japan, and South America.