 There are roughly 54,000 cash machines in the UK |
UK cash machine firm Cardpoint is to increase its presence in the fee-charging ATM market by buying rival Moneybox for �87.3m ($154m). Cardpoint will pay 43p a share, up 22.9 % on Moneybox's price on 30 March, the day before the bid was announced.
A total of 43.3 million new shares will be placed by Cardpoint to raise �55m, and it has agreed new bank facilities worth �80m with the Bank of Scotland.
Cardpoint hopes the deal will "improve operating margins by reducing costs".
It also believes the deal will "significantly increase the scale" of its business and "consolidate Cardpoint's position as a market leader in the independent ATM market".
Overseas operations
There are more than 50,000 ATMs in the UK, an estimated 19,000 of which impose charges.
Most of the growth in the past few years has come from fee-charging machines run by companies such as Cardpoint, which has about 2,400 machines in the UK and Germany.
Moneybox, which also has businesses in Germany and the Netherlands, has more than 3,000 machines, including operations for banks.
Last year, Cardpoint purchased more than 800 cash points from HBOS.
In December 2004 a Treasury Select Committee hearing was told by consumer groups that cash machine charges in the UK were "grossly disproportionate".
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 