That last detail matters for Intermex holders. The deal was a $16.00 cash offer, per ArbLens, which also listed termination fees of $27.3 million (Western Union) and $19.8 million (Intermex) in the agreement. Western Union's release says neither applies to this termination.
California Said Yes, With Strings Western Union Wouldn't Accept
The DFPI's own release, dated November 10, describes the decision as a conditional approval, not a rejection. The department said it reopened its earlier approval in August 2026 and is now requiring steps to detect and deter fraud through the companies' networks, restrictions on limiting a consumer's choice at an agent location, safeguards against materially reducing agent locations, and anti-money-laundering protections. Seeking Alpha reported the conditional approval at 9:44 p.m. ET.
Western Union's account fills in the timeline. California first approved the deal on February 11, 2026, granted extensions on April 17 and July 31, and withdrew its approval 13 days after the second extension. Western Union said it had approvals from 54 other states, territories and foreign countries, and that California "did not identify any failure" by the company on fraud, money laundering or fair access. The deal was signed on August 10, 2025, and the outside date for either side to terminate was November 10, 2026, according to the exhibit to Western Union's third-quarter 8-K.
IMXI Had Mostly Priced the Break Before It Happened
Intermex never traded close to the offer price in the final stretch. ArbLens noted the stock fell from $9.52 on November 2 to $7.34 on November 6 as the deadline approached. On Tuesday, Seeking Alpha reported a 14% plunge on deadline day, and Cboe data show IMXI opened at $7.44, traded between $6.46 and $7.87, and closed at $6.495, down 14.2% from Monday's $7.57 on about 1.13 million shares.
At $6.495, the stock was trading at about 41% of the $16 offer. The spread had stopped behaving like a merger-arbitrage gap and started behaving like a standalone valuation with a small chance of a rescue. The termination removes most of that remaining chance.
Nasdaq's after-hours data show IMXI last at $6.61 on about 16,200 shares, with a range of $6.459 to $7.32 before the session ended at 8 p.m. ET. Since the conditional approval was reported after that, Wednesday's regular session, which runs normally on Veterans Day, is the first full chance to trade the termination itself.
Puts Were Already Stacked Below the Stock
IMXI's 30-day implied volatility sat near 185% at Tuesday's close, per Cboe. That's typical of a stock caught between two very different prices: $16 if the deal closed, and something well under the market price if it didn't. With the binary resolved, that kind of premium usually comes out of the chain, though a fresh standalone story can keep IV elevated for a while.
Open interest in the November 20 expiration leaned heavily to puts:
| Nov 20 strike | Put open interest | Put bid / ask at close | Call open interest |
About 1,250 of the $5 puts traded on Tuesday alone. Those spreads are very wide, so closing quotes on a thin chain are a weak guide to where contracts will actually trade. Anyone holding puts at the $7 and $8 strikes is in the money with the stock near $6.50, and those positions now depend on how far a standalone Intermex reprices rather than on any deal headline.
For WU Options, the Exit Is a Smaller Event
Western Union closed at $6.94, up 1.2% on Tuesday, and Nasdaq shows a last after-hours trade near $7.02 on about 955,000 shares, also before the termination news. Its 30-day implied volatility was about 38.6%, per Cboe, a fraction of IMXI's.
The company had already published guidance both ways. Its third-quarter release put full-year adjusted EPS at $1.28 to $1.38 whether or not Intermex closed, with adjusted revenue down 2% to down 1% excluding the deal. We covered that report in our Western Union Q3 article. The largest WU open interest we saw in the November chain was about 16,084 contracts at the $7 call, right at the after-hours price, which makes that strike a natural reference point through next Friday's expiration.
Ways Traders Study a Broken Deal (Educational)
Our implied volatility explainer covers why option prices can fall even when a stock moves sharply, and the OCC options disclosure document explains the risks of standardized options. We hadn't seen a statement from Intermex on the termination at publication.
Sources
*By the OptionsPilot Editorial Team. Published November 10, 2026, 9:21 PM PT. This article is for education only and is not investment advice. Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors.*
