Travelex to acquire Ruesch International

27 March 2007

London and Washington, 27 March 2007 Travelex, the world's largest non-bank provider of international payment services, announced today that it has agreed to acquire Ruesch International from Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe for US$440 million.

Ruesch International is a business to business payments services company, based in Washington DC, with customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and Australia, including more than 125 Fortune 1000 companies. Ruesch will be merged with Travelex's Commercial Foreign Exchange division to accelerate Travelex's growth in the international payments market.

Together, Travelex and Ruesch will continue to provide cross-border payment services to more than 35,000 small and medium-sized businesses, as well as multi-national financial institutions and global consumer and industrial firms.

Ian Meakins, CEO of Travelex said: "The acquisition of Ruesch strengthens our presence in the international payments market and reinforces our position as the leading non-bank provider of foreign exchange services. The combined business will now be able to offer an enhanced range of products, delivering even better value and superior services to our customers around the world."

Thomas P Staudt, CEO of Ruesch said: "This move brings together the strengths of two innovative businesses, both committed to offering the best cross-border payments services in the market. We will continue to provide our customers with the market-leading payment tools they need to maintain their competitive edge in an increasingly global business environment."

Travelex was acquired by funds advised by Apax Partners in August 2005. Stephan Wilcke, a partner at Apax and a Director of Travelex, welcomed the transaction as very positive for both companies' customers and employees: "In assisting Travelex in this acquisition, Apax has capitalised on its global reach using a combined UK and US transaction team to deliver a transatlantic deal for one of our global portfolio companies."

Travelex was advised by Credit Suisse, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Financing for the transaction has been underwritten by Citigroup and Deutsche Bank. Ruesch was advised by Lane, Berry & Co., Wachovia Securities and Ropes & Gray.

Subject to regulatory approval, the transaction is expected to complete later this year.