Control of Western Union Is Sought by 2 Companies

UPPER SADDLE RIVER, N.J. —  Western Union Corp. withdrew its restructuring plan Friday after shareholders rejected two parts of it and announced a proposed $250-million investment by two companies that would gain control of the telecommunications giant.

The beleaguered company said Pacific Asset Holdings L.P., a private financial services organization in Los Angeles, and MDC Holdings Inc., a publicly traded national home builder and financial services company in Denver, would invest the money in exchange for senior debentures, preferred stock and common stock.

Western Union said the investor group would constitute a majority of the company’s board and would participate in the management of the company, which owes $300 million to a consortium of banks and has not had a profit since 1982.

In a statement, the company said the board of directors had approved the proposal, which would be subject to a number of conditions.

Among other things, these would include negotiation of satisfactory settlements with the company’s banks; certain regulatory approvals; the authorization by its shareholders of additional common and preferred shares, and approval of the entire transaction by its shareholders.

Western Union had held out hope that its original restructuring plan would revive the 135-year-old company. But shareholders of the corporation’s Western Union Telegraph Co. subsidiary lacked a quorum for a vote on merging the parent with the subsidiary.