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MoneyGram Purchases Rent Payment Services Company
Published: September 12, 2007
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| Gilbert |
By Keat Foong, Executive Editor
Oakland, Calif.--Global payment services company MoneyGram International Inc., based in Minneapolis, has reached an agreement to acquire Oakland, Calif.-based PropertyBridge Inc., a provider of electronic payment services for the apartment industry.
The acquisition by the New York Stock Exchange-listed MoneyGram will increase the resources available to PropertyBridge, which has been a company with 25 employees.
“By being a part of MoneyGram, we will be able to leverage infrastructure, enabling us to bring to market a number of new products,” Ryan Gilbert, CEO of PropertyBridge, tells MHN.
PropertyBridge services allow consumers to pay rent and other lease-related transactions using any one of seven payment types including payment cards (credit and debit), Automated Clearing House (ACH) and e-checks. The company says it processes the largest dollar volume of automated payments in the multifamily housing industry, with contracts for about 1 million rental units.
Based in Minneapolis and an S&P MidCap 400 company, MoneyGram’s major products and services include global money transfers, money orders and payment processing solutions for financial institutions and retail customers.
The acquisition by MoneyGram will also enable PropertyBridge to leverage MoneyGram’s retail locations across the U.S. both in standalone stores and retail chains such as Wal-Mart, says Gilbert. “Rent payments are without a doubt the largest payment consumers make every month,” he says. “We want property management companies to be able to provide a lot more options to the resident when it comes to making their monthly rental payments.”
The PropertyBridge founding management team and structure will remain in place after the acquisition. Gilbert and President Jason Gardner will continue at the helm, the PropertyBridge name will be retained, and the company will remain headquartered in California. PropertyBridge will operate as part of MoneyGram’s Global Payment Services group. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2007.
