Finablr, the UAE holding company for brands including Travelex and UAE Exchange, confirmed plans to sell shares on the London Stock Exchange with a listing expected by next month.
The payments and foreign exchange services company will publish a prospectus on or around May 1, Finablr said in a statement to LSE on Tuesday, a week after it announced plans for an initial public offering. The final offer price will be decided after the book-building process.
"Depending on market conditions, we hope for the process conclusion and an admission by mid-May," Binay Shetty, executive director of Finablr, told The National.
The company expects to raise $200 million (Dh734m) from the sale of new shares, with some existing shares also being offered as part of the IPO, Finablr said. It intends to have a free float of at least 25 per cent of its issued share capital and expects to be eligible for inclusion in the FTSE UK indices.
"London is one of the deepest capital markets in the world and understands finance and technology businesses, so it makes sense to list Finablr there," he added.
Finablr will use the proceeds from the IPO to finance expansion and lower debt.
The company sees opportunities in high-growth markets in the Middle East, Asia and Africa as well as opportunities in payments services in the US, UK and Europe, said Promoth Manghat, Finablr's group chief executive.
The business can be scaled up to triple the size of its current volumes without investments but has potential to increase up to seven times through small investments, he said.
Finablr is in discussions with banks in India, Pakistan and Europe to expand its services offering cross-border remittances via blockchain, Mr Manghat said.
In February, the company said its brands UAE Exchange and Unimoni will partner with US start-up Ripple to offer cross-border remittances to Thailand via blockchain.
Mr Manghat declined to provide a range for the offer price or valuation of the business.
Dubai-based payments processing company Network International last week started trading its shares on the LSE. Mr Manghat declined to comment on competition with its rival in London.
"We see the IPO as start of a new journey will lots of new and attractive opportunities," Mr Manghat said of Finablr's listing in May.
JP Morgan, Barclays and Goldman Sachs are global co-ordinators for the IPO. Bookrunners include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, EFG Hermes and Numis. Evercore is acting as the financial adviser.
Finablr, founded by Indian-born billionaire BR Shetty, handled more than 150 million transactions or $114.5 billion in volumes as of December 2018, according to the company. Last year it served more than 23 million retail customers and 500 corporate clients across 170 countries.
Mr BR Shetty and family own 91 per cent of Finablr, according to Mr Binay Shetty.
Mr BR Shetty is also the founder of NMC Health, which raised about £117 million (Dh562m) in an IPO in 2012 on the LSE, where it now trades and is part of the benchmark FTSE 100 Index.
Donating your hair
• Your hair should be least 30 cms long, as some of the hair is lost during manufacturing of the wigs.
• Clean, dry hair in good condition (no split ends) from any gender, and of any natural colour, is required.
• Straight, wavy, curly, permed or chemically straightened is permitted.
• Dyed hair must be of a natural colour
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WHAT ARE NFTs?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are tokens that represent ownership of unique items. They allow the tokenisation of things such as art, collectibles and even real estate.
An NFT can have only one official owner at one time. And since they're minted and secured on the Ethereum blockchain, no one can modify the record of ownership, not even copy-paste it into a new one.
This means NFTs are not interchangeable and cannot be exchanged with other items. In contrast, fungible items, such as fiat currencies, can be exchanged because their value defines them rather than their unique properties.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
