JPMorgan, Goldman-Backed Payments Co Finablr Eye IPO

Finablr, a payments and foreign exchange company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said it will launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) next month, according to reports .

“The Finablr IPO will happen in March and it will be listed on the London bourse. However, we don’t know the size of the IPO. We expect a very good response because we have a very good track record,” Finablr Founder and Chairman B.R. Shetty said at a conference in Dubai.

Goldman Sachs, HSBC and JPMorgan are all involved with the management of the IPO. Finablr has offices in more than 160 countries and it handles more than $100 billion in volume for its customers.

Finablr started in April of 2018 as an umbrella for companies like Travelex, Xpress Money and the UAE Exchange. The company planned to sell 30 percent of its shares publicly and use that money to expand.

The company’s founder spoke at the Indian budget forum hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India-Dubai. Shetty said he would invest in India whenever he gets an opportunity to do so, especially in the sectors of agriculture, healthcare and education.

He was asked about investing in Jet Airways, a struggling airline in India. He said he has no plans to do so right now.

“I don’t plan to invest now. What I told Jet Airways was that they should collaborate with Etihad. They should divest some stake. But they didn’t listen to me and now it is in trouble. They have not paid the salaries to pilots and staff,” he said.

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways denied reports that it was going to buy $35 million of Jet Airways’ shares, and the Indian airline was forced to ground four airplanes over the past weekend due to not paying what it owed to lessors.

“The company is making all efforts to minimise disruption to its network due to the above and is proactively informing and re-accommodating its affected guests,” the company said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange.