UAE-based Indian billionaire BR Shetty’s Finablr Plc is selling its business to an Israeli-UAE consortium for $1, capping the collapse of a business that had a market value of 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion) last December.
Finablr, the scandal-marred platform for payments and foreign exchange solutions, announced that it has entered into “a definitive agreement” with Global Fintech Investments Holding (GFIH), an affiliate of Prism Group of Israel, to sell to GFIH the entire issued share capital of Finablr Limited.”
Prism Group, linked to a former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has formed a consortium with Abu Dhabi’s Royal Strategic Partners (RSP) in connection with the transaction.
RSP, which is headed by Abubaker Al Khoori, is affiliated with Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.
Finablr had a market value of $2 billion last December. It reported more than $1 billion in undisclosed debts in April.
The deal is also among the first significant commercial transactions between UAE and Israeli companies after the countries signed a normalization accord earlier this year. Since then, agreements have been signed-in sectors ranging from banking to mobile phone services. Israel’s Finance Ministry sees potential for annual bilateral trade starting at $2 billion and building up to $6.5 billion.
