The B.R. Shetty Group’s former financial services division, Finablr, has been delisted from the London Stock Exchange. This de-listing will pave the door for Wizz Financial, a Prism Group fintech, to acquire Finablr.
It was in March that Finablr went into administration, and the de-listing will speed up the re-launch of operations of ex-Finablr businesses acquired by Wizz Financial. The Finablr operations included UAE Exchange Centre, which until early 2020 was the biggest remittance firm in the UAE and with extensive Gulf-wide interests.
“This (de-listing) decision facilitates Wizz Financial rapidly moving forward with its business strategy,” said Wizz Financial’s co-founder and Group Chairman Amir Nagammy. “It has been a long journey, in extremely challenging circumstances within a complicated regulatory environment and process with the FCA and then the courts.”
Finablr had gone through an IPO and listed on LSE in May 2019. It was later caught up in the turmoil that engulfed the B.R. Shetty-owned business interests. Subsequently, UAE Exchange drastically scaled down operations. It was last July that Wizz Financial confirmed buying UAE Exchange.
The de-listing from LSE “is an affirmation of the credibility and capacity of Wizz Financial’s management team and shareholders’ vision after two years of tireless effort,” said Dr. Hamad Al Ali, Royal Strategic Partners’ CEO. “We are now executing the vision of our shareholders which is taking shape and form, so we are delighted with the final outcome and thank the FCA for this decision.”
The near future will reveal how the UAE Exchange Centre redevelopment turns out. In the last two years, banks and fintechs have played a significant role in the UAE’s remittance scene.
