Press Release
Blackhawk Network signs agreement to acquire EWI Holdings, Inc.
PLEASANTON, CA, October 4, 2006 — Blackhawk Network, a market leader in card-based financial solutions and the largest provider of third-party prepaid cards signed an agreement to acquire EWI Holdings, Inc. (EWI), a leading provider of prepaid payment processing technology and services. The acquisition of EWI expands Blackhawk Network's 3rd party card market share and enhances its ability to service a wide spectrum of retailers with turnkey transaction technology and services. The acquisition is expected to close in early October 2006.
EWI, based in San Diego, CA, provides the prepaid and cash payments industry with PayGo a patented prepaid transaction processing platform. PayGo enables merchant processors, acquirers, and prepaid distributors to manage the entire category of prepaid services on a single transaction platform residing on retailers' terminals, point of sale systems, or other transaction networks.
"The acquisition of EWI adds robust capabilities to our existing solutions, addressing the specific needs of our retail partners and accelerating the rapid growth we have experienced in the last few years," said Don Kingsborough, president and chief executive officer, Blackhawk Network. "We also believe EWI's technology will enable us to deliver our existing products on new networks and bring new products to market faster."
"Our solutions allow merchants to grow their prepaid product portfolio while lowering costs," said Miles Paschini, chief executive officer, EWI. "Blackhawk Network's scale complements our solutions, allowing us to extend and increase the benefits of prepaid products to a much larger market."
About Blackhawk Network Blackhawk Network, a subsidiary of Safeway Inc., is a prepaid and payments network, a market leader in card-based financial solutions and the largest provider of third-party prepaid cards. Blackhawk Network develops unique products in easy-to-use formats and delivers them to consumers through an exclusive retail network of leading grocery, mass, convenience, drug and specialty retailers. The network includes more than 60,000 store fronts and reaches more than 135 million consumers each week. Headquartered in Pleasanton, California, Blackhawk Network has offices in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
About EWI Holdings, Inc.EWI Holdings, Inc. is a leading provider of advanced payment processing technologies to the prepaid and cash payments sectors in the U.S. and Latin America. EWI's PayGo patented technology supports the real-time delivery and settlement of prepaid services to retailers' point-of-sale (POS) systems, stand-alone terminals, kiosks and ATM networks. With EWI's transaction solutions, merchant processors, acquirers, and prepaid distributors can manage their entire category of prepaid services including wireless, long distance, downloadable digital content, bill-pay and stored value programs on a single transaction platform that resides on the retailer's existing terminals, point-of-sale systems, or other transaction networks. Based in San Diego, California, EWI is a privately held company. Additional information regarding EWI can be obtained at www.ewiprepaid.com.