MoneyGram's Suitors Said to Include Euronet as Carlyle Drops Out

Euronet Worldwide Inc. is among the bidders for MoneyGram International Inc.

, the rival money- transfer service that put itself up for sale earlier this year, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Carlyle Group LP and at least three other buyout firms withdrew, said the person, who asked for anonymity because the sale process for Dallas-based MoneyGram isn't public. Bank of America Corp. was hired to find suitors, a person familiar with the matter said in June. Euronet tried to buy MoneyGram at least once before with a $1.65 billion bid in 2008, only to be thwarted when its target sold a majority stake to Thomas H. Lee, the Boston-based private-equity firm, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. MoneyGram has since posted losses in four of the last six years amid competition with firms such as Western Union Co. Michael Gutierrez, a spokesman at MoneyGram, and representatives for Carlyle, Thomas Lee, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America said their firms had no comment on the sale or didn't respond to inquiries.