UAE-Israel consortium strikes deal to buy Finablr
19 December, 2020
Payments firm Finablr on Thursday said it decided to sell its business to Global Fintech Investments Holding for a nominal $1, months after it first reported sale talks.
GFIH - an affiliate of Israel-based Prism Group - formed a consortium with Abu Dhabi's Royal Strategic Partners to get Finablr.
Within the deal, GFIH provides Finablr with working capital to help it operate and support its creditors and employees, according to a statement on the London STOCK MARKET, where in fact the company's shares used to trade.
"In addition, GFIH will undertake to aid and facilitate the company's continued efforts to recuperate funds from third parties in respect of possible historic wrongdoing within the group," the statement said.
Finablr owns numerous foreign exchange and digital payments companies including UAE Exchange, Xpress Money, Unimoni, Remit2India and Bayan Pay. It also used the Travelex foreign exchange business, but that was bought out by its lenders in another restructuring exercise in July.
"Prism and RSP are creating a highly experienced executive management team to greatly help lead the proposed transformation of Finablr," the statement said. "Through this transformation, Prism intends to make a world-leading, financial services platform for the emerging and frontier markets."
Finablr floated on the London STOCK MARKET in May last year in a deal that valued the business enterprise at £1.23 billion ($1.5bn), but has faced numerous challenges this season that began with a cyberattack on Travelex along with trouble at its holding firm BRS Investment Holdings.
The business also faced liquidity issues, which led the UAE Central Bank to part of and oversee functions at its UAE Exchange business in March. Finablr's shares were suspended from trading in the same month.
In May, Finablr reported that its debt was $1bn greater than the $334.1m previously reported in its accounts. It appointed lawyer Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom to "investigate historic potential malfeasance within the Finablr Group and any misappropriation of assets" in July.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com