MoneyGram transfers to Dallas

MoneyGram International Corp., the world's second-largest money transfer company, announced Thursday it is moving its corporate headquarters from St. Louis Park to Dallas.

The company, which nearly collapsed in 2008 from risky investments tied to subprime mortgages, said its relocation will be effective Nov. 1. MoneyGram employs about 470 people in St. Louis Park.

A company spokeswoman declined to say how many jobs would be eliminated as part of the move.

MoneyGram said in a written statement that its business is "already well-rooted in Texas." The state is home to 3,350 MoneyGram money transfer locations, making it the company's second-biggest market in the country.

"Nearly 10 percent of our agent locations in the U.S. are in Texas," said Pamela Patsley, MoneyGram chairwoman and chief executive officer. "Locating the company's headquarters in Dallas provides us with important access to agents, customers and the growing Latin America market, as well as to multi-lingual employees with global experience."

The announcement ends months of speculation that the company, which has 2,600 employees in 23 offices worldwide, would move its headquarters. Dallas was considered a front-runner, in part because Patsley and General Counsel Tim Everett were commuting from there.

As of May, MoneyGram employed 900 in Minnesota, 900 in Colorado and 800 in Texas and elsewhere around the globe.

The losses forced the company to sell a majority stake to an investment group led by private equity giant Thomas H. Lee Partners. The leveraged buyout left the company heavily in debt. Most of its profits flow directly to its new owners as interest payments and preferred-share dividends.

MoneyGram, founded in the Twin Cities as Travelers Express in 1940, once was part of Greyhound and later part of an Arizona-based conglomerate until it was spun off in 2004.

In an unsuccessful bid to keep the headquarters in Minnesota, the state offered worker training incentives and modest help in paying for building renovation or capital equipment, said Kirsten Morell, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

St. Louis Park also touted its location and educated workforce in talks with the company, said Kevin Locke, the city's director of community development. St. Louis Park also offered to help pay for improvements to MoneyGram's leased office space if the company kept its headquarters there, Locke said.

But he said it became obvious the firm was focused on relocating its corporate headquarters. "We were not getting the same level of conversation from them that you would expect," Locke said.

Under terms of the lease, MoneyGram can sublet some of the space, "and I think they are in the market to do that," Mascia said.

Chris Serres • 612-673-4308