First Data Corp. of Greenwood Village has agreed to buy Vigo Remittance Corp., the country’s largest privately owned money-transfer firm.
First Data plans to keep Vigo, based in Sunrise, Fla., as a separate subsidiary within its payment services division alongside Western Union Financial Services and Orlandi Valuta.
“It will maintain its own brand,” said First Data spokesman Colin Wheeler. Terms were not disclosed.
Western Union dominates the money-transfer business, with MoneyGram and Vigo a distant second and third, respectively.
Western Union has 225,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories. Vigo has more than 50,000 locations in 47 countries.
Western Union conducted 97 million consumer-to-consumer money transfers last year. Vigo did about 8 million, Wheeler said.
Vigo got its start in 1986 facilitating transfers between New Jersey and Brazil and has made strong inroads in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Vigo chief executive Mario Trujillo led a management buyout of the firm with the financial backing of Great Hill Partners, a Boston private equity firm, in 2003.
Trujillo has criticized Western Union in the past for locking up a large number of agent locations, but he took a more conciliatory tone Thursday.
“Consumers are going to benefit from the joining of First Data and Vigo,” he said.
Staff writer Aldo Svaldi can be reached at 303-820-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com.
