Finablr Plc, the struggling payments group which owns UAE Exchange has agreed a takeover offer from Global Fintech Investments Holding AG (GFIH), an affiliate of Prism Group AG (Prism), for a nominal fee of $1, pending regulatory approval.

The Transaction will constitute the sale of the entire business and operations of Finablr Plc. Prism has formed a consortium with Abu Dhabi's Royal Strategic Partners (RSP) in connection with the transaction, Finablr said in a statement.

According to the Financial Times, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert is non-executive chairman of Prism Advance Solutions, the London-registered company that was announced in October as a joint bidder with Abu Dhabi’s Royal Strategic Partners for Finablr’s assets including UAE Exchange.

GFIH and Abu Dhabi’s RSP will pay the nominal consideration and provide working capital to the business and operations of the financial services company. In addition, GFIH will undertake to support and facilitate the company's continued efforts to recover funds from third parties in respect of possible historic wrongdoing within the group, the statement said.

Finablr’s subsidiaries include Travelex, UAE Exchange, Xpress Money, TimesofMoney, Remit2India, Bayan Pay, Nyuvo, Unimoni, Swych, and others.

Finablr's problems started to surface after US shortseller Muddy Waters took aim at NMC Health, which was also founded by B R Shetty, the founder of Finablr Group. In April 2020, the London-listed company and its creditors found that Finablr Group’s overall debt - excluding Travelex Holdings Ltd - was about $1.3 billion.

When Finablr ran into trouble, the UAE Cenral Bank intervened and took cotrol of UAE Exchange, which has more than 100 branches in the UAE and is a popular foreign exchange used by expats to send money home.

Prism and RSP are building a highly experienced executive management team to help lead the proposed transformation of Finablr. Through this transformation, Prism intends to create a world-leading, financial services platform for the emerging and frontier markets, Finablr said.

(Reporting by Seban Scaria; editing by Daniel Luiz)

seban.scaria@refinitiv.com

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