Acquisition to Further Equifax Global Footprint in Digital
Identity and Fraud Prevention Solutions
ATLANTA, July 26,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Equifax® (NYSE: EFX) is
expanding its global footprint in digital identity and fraud
prevention with a definitive agreement to acquire Midigator LLC, a
provider of post-transaction fraud mitigation solutions. With the
rise of global ecommerce sales, expected to hit $5.5 trillion in 2022, transaction disputes and
chargebacks are also surging. Midigator's highly automated,
data-driven chargeback prevention and chargeback dispute management
solutions complement the Equifax Kount Identity Trust Global
Network, which uses award-winning Artificial Intelligence (AI) to
link trust and fraud data signals from 32 billion digital
interactions, 17 billion unique devices, and five billion annual
transactions across 200 countries and territories.
"We're energized to expand our Identity & Fraud capabilities
with the acquisition of Midigator. The New Equifax is much more
than a credit bureau. Midigator expands our robust differentiated
data assets and Kount acquisition in 2021 to bring global
businesses the information and solutions they need to better manage
fraud across the complete customer lifecycle," said Mark W. Begor, CEO of Equifax. "With our Equifax
Cloud™ driven data & analytics capabilities and the powerful
combination of Midigator and our Kount Identity & Fraud
solutions, Equifax is poised to capitalize on new revenue streams
and relationships, broadening our digital identity footprint in a
fast growing space. This is our 12th acquisition since the
beginning of 2021 and we are continuing to reinvest our strong free
cash flow in strategic bolt-on acquisitions to expand our
capabilities and drive growth in the future."
With global omnichannel digital payments expected to grow from
2.6 billion users in 2020 to over 4.4 billion in 2025, dispute and
chargeback rates present growing problems for businesses around the
world. Founded in 2013, Midigator offers a technology platform
designed to not only automate the dispute response process, but to
provide the real-time data businesses need to know why chargebacks
are occurring in the first place and better understand their
customers. Midigator has prevented more than 2.7 million
chargebacks. The resulting granular, post-transaction data and
digital signals complement the Equifax Kount dataset and augment
AI-driven Kount preventative fraud products to combat the
illegitimate chargebacks known as "friendly" fraud as well as
criminal fraud activities.
"The acquisition of Midigator will bolster the expansion of our
digital identity network for current and prospective customers
while further enabling new forms of engagement in online commerce,"
said Sid Singh, President of United
States Information Solutions (USIS) at Equifax. "We're seeing
strong demand from clients and partners for digital identity and
fraud prevention solutions that encompass the entire customer
journey, specifically around the desire to mitigate and manage
post-transaction issues. Many organizations are in markets that
weren't prone to friendly fraud before. Now they are. By combining
our Kount pre-authorization and preventative protection
capabilities with Midigator's complementary intelligent
post-authorization and automated chargeback technologies, we'll be
able to provide a complete solution that enhances customer
experience while helping businesses to protect and recover
revenue."
"We believe that Midigator's chargeback representment and
dispute management solutions are a strong complement to the current
Equifax digital enablement and fraud control offerings," said Brad
Wiskirchen, General Manager of Kount, an Equifax company.
"This acquisition will strongly position us for continued product
innovation and provide our customers and partners with the advanced
tools and insights they need to protect and recover revenue by
combatting illegitimate chargebacks."
"Midigator was founded by e-commerce merchants to solve friendly
fraud challenges. Over the last decade, companies ranging from
startups to established brands have used Midigator for intelligent
chargeback responses, in-depth analytics, real-time account
reporting and dispute processes," said Corey Baggett, Founder and CEO of Midigator.
"Our solutions are grounded in a strong foundation of data analysis
and we're excited for the new opportunities and product innovation
that will come from having our offerings combined with the
expansive set of Equifax data, analytics and products."
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and
is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022. The acquisition
is not anticipated to have a material impact on 2022 Equifax
financial results. As part of the transaction, LLR Partners, who
invested in Midigator in 2018, will exit the business. Raymond James served as financial advisor and
Goodwin Proctor served as legal
advisor to Midigator in this transaction. King & Spalding
LLP served as the legal advisor to Equifax.
Once the transaction closes, Midigator will become part of the
Equifax USIS business unit.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This release contains
forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. All
statements that address operating performance and events or
developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future,
including statements relating to our ability to successfully
consummate the proposed transaction, the expected financial and
operational benefits, synergies and growth from the
Midigator acquisition and our ability to integrate
Midigator and its products, services, technologies, IT
systems and personnel into our operations, and similar statements
about our outlook and our business plans are forward-looking
statements. We believe these forward-looking statements are
reasonable as and when made. However, forward-looking statements
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from our historical experience and our
present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to, those described in our 2021 Form
10-K and subsequent SEC filings. As a result of such risks and
uncertainties, we urge you not to place undue reliance on any
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only
as of the date when made. We undertake no obligation to publicly
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as
required by law.
ABOUT EQUIFAX INC.
At Equifax
(NYSE: EFX), we believe knowledge drives
progress. As a global data, analytics, and technology company, we
play an essential role in the global economy by helping financial
institutions, companies, employees, and government agencies make
critical decisions with greater confidence. Our unique blend of
differentiated data, analytics, and cloud technology drives
insights to power decisions to move people forward. Headquartered
in Atlanta and supported by more
than 11,000 employees worldwide, Equifax operates or
has investments in 25 countries in North
America, Central and South
America, Europe, and the
Asia Pacific region. For more
information, visit Equifax.com.
ABOUT MIDIGATOR LLC
Midigator provides an
effective and efficient alternative approach to the manual
processes typically used to manage chargeback
disputes: intelligent chargeback technology.
With intuitive features that remove complexities and flexible
automation that reduces costs, clients recover more revenue and
prevent more chargebacks — all with
unparalleled ROI. To learn more about managing
chargebacks smarter, visit Midigator.com
today.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Eric Abercrombie
for Equifax
mediainquiries@equifax.com
Ray Lau for Midigator
ray.l@midigator.com
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SOURCE Equifax Inc.