| Grupo Elektra to Acquire Advance America for $10.50 Per Share and Elektra Agrees to Buy Advance America to Provide U.S. Loans |
| News - Financial News |
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MEXICO CITY and SPARTANBURG, S.C., Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Advance America, Cash Advance Centers, Inc. (NYSE: AEA - News) and Grupo Elektra, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: ELEKTRA.MX - News) today announced that Advance America and subsidiaries of Grupo Elektra have entered into a definitive agreement under which Grupo Elektra will acquire control of all of the outstanding shares of Advance America, a leading U.S. short-term lender, for $10.50 per share in cash, representing a 32.7% premium to the Company's closing price of $7.91on February 15, 2012 . The total transaction value is approximately $780 million, including the Company's outstanding debt as of December 31, 2011.The acquisition of Advance America represents Grupo Elektra's first major investment in the U.S. financial services market. Advance America is the leading provider of non-bank cash advance services in the U.S., with approximately 2,600 centers in 29 states, the United Kingdom, and Canada. [Read the full article] SPARTANBURG, S.C., Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Advance America, Cash Advance Centers, Inc. (NYSE: AEA - News) announced today that the Company's Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.0625 per share. The dividend, the Company's 30th consecutive quarterly dividend, will be payable on March 9, 2012 to stockholders of record as of February 27, 2012.Also, the Company announced that it expects to release fourth quarter 2011 financial results on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 after the close of trading on the NYSE. In light of today's earlier announcement that Advance America had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Grupo Elektra, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: ELEKTRA.MX - News), the Company will not host a conference call with respect to the earnings release.Founded in 1997, Advance America, Cash Advance Centers, Inc. [Read the full article] Feb 15 (Reuters) - Mexican company Grupo Elektra is buying Advance America, the largest U.S. payday lender, for about $656 million in cash, marking Elektra's first investment in the U.S. financial services market. Elektra, owned by billionaire television magnate Ricardo Salinas, will pay $10.50 per share, which represents a 32.7 percent premium on Advance America's $7.91 closing price on Feb. 15. Advance America had 62.44 million shares outstanding, as per Reuters data. The equity portion of the deal - $655.6 million - was derived based on the shares outstanding data. Shares in Elektra, which offers Mexico's poor loans for washing machines and other consumer items, surged 165 percent in 2011 to record the biggest gains by any stock in Mexico, Argentina or Brazil. [Read the full article] 
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