Business
EZCORP Acquires 128 Pawn Stores in Mexico
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ: EZPW), a leading provider of pawn transactions in the United States and Latin America, announced that
About this update from Ezcorp, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":" AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nEZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ: EZPW), a leading provider of pawn transactions in the United States and Latin America, announced that it has acquired 128 pawn stores in Mexico. The stores, operating under the name “Cash Apoyo Efectivo,” are principally located in the Mexico City metropolitan area and enjoy strong brand recognition in that market. The acquisition is the company’s largest to date in terms of store-count. With this acquisition, the company now operates a total of 1,154 pawn stores, 638 (55%) of which are in Latin America, including 503 in Mexico.\n\nThe initial purchase price of $33.8 million includes cash of $17.3 million, 212,870 shares of the company’s Class A Non-Voting Common Stock valued at $1.6 million, and repayment of $14.9 million of Cash Apoyo Efectivo’s existing debt. The sellers will be entitled to additional payments of up to $4.6 million over the next two years, contingent on the performance of the acquired stores.\n\nJason Kulas, Chief Executive Officer, stated: “We are excited to add this highly-regarded business to our Mexico pawn operations. The addition of the 128 Cash Apoyo Efectivo stores solidifies our position as the second largest for-profit competitor in Mexico, which continues to be one of our most attractive growth markets for both acquisitions and de novo store openings.\n\n“We expect that this acquisition will be accretive to earnings in fiscal 2022, although near-term performance will be affected by the continuing recovery from COVID-related impacts, operational changes that we will implement as we integrate the stores into our existing business and non-recurring transitional expenses. Over the medium-to-long-term, we see upside opportunities to increase pawn balances and profitability through enhanced access to capital, exposure to a broader range of general merchandise, implementation of our efficient processes and realization of cost synergies with the consolidation of back-office support functions.”\n\nABOUT EZCORP\n\nFormed in 1989, EZCORP has grown into a leading provider of pawn transactions in the United States and Latin America. We also sell merchandise, primarily collateral forfeited from pawn operations and pre-owned merchandise purchased from customers. We are dedicated to satisfying the short-term cash needs of consumers who are both cash and cred...