TransUnion buys out banks in Mexican credit bureau arm in $560 million deal

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -U.S. credit reporting agency TransUnion is buying a majority stake in its Mexican arm, it said on Thursday, buying out several major banks in a deal worth around $560 million.

TransUnion's stake in Trans Union de Mexico will come up to around 94%, from a current 26%, it said in a statement.

TransUnion plans to tap into Mexico's rapidly expanding consumer credit market with the purchase.

The company partly controls the major Mexican credit bureau, Buro de Credito. The bureau's commercial credit business will however be excluded from the deal, TransUnion said.

That arm of the Buro de Credito is jointly run with Dun & Bradstreet.

Carlos Valencia, TransUnion's Latin America chief, added that they planned to introduce alternative credit data, fraud mitigation options and expand into insurance and financial technology.

"We look forward to supporting the country's digital transformation objectives to empower consumers with increased economic opportunity," TransUnion CEO Chris Cartwright said in a statement.

Mexican lender Banorte, as well as the local arms of HSBC, Scotiabank and Santander separately announced the sale of their respective stakes in TransUnion's Mexico unit.

TransUnion said it had pegged around 11.5 billion pesos ($560 million) for the deal, based on an enterprise value of 16.8 billion pesos. It said it expects to close the deal by the end of this year and fund it through cash and debt.

The deal remains subject to regulatory approvals.

($1 = 20.6160 Mexican pesos)

(Reporting by Natalia Siniawski and Sarah Morland; Editing by David Goodman and Kylie Madry)