Two U.K. fintech companies are exploring sale options after sanctions on their Russian billionaire backers have left them struggling to find funding.
The move to sell the two firms is part of an effort to find new sources of capital for the lenders. The action mirrors other deals rippling through the financial world as a number of Russians, either already hit by sanctions or at risk of getting drawn into the net, look to sell some assets.
“We as a company — FIBR Tech Ltd. — can confirm that we have engaged FRP Advisory to advise in relation to strategic and restructuring options for FIBR,” Chief Executive Officer Bivu Das said in a statement.“
The founders of ANNA are currently in the process of negotiating a buy-out,” a spokesperson for ANNA said in a statement. “One of the conditions precedent for such a transaction is that it should be compliant with U.K. and EU sanctions law. We cannot comment further until it is completed.”
ABH Holdings
The two businesses are owned by ABH Holdings, a Luxembourg-based company whose owners have included Fridman, Aven and also German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev. All four have been sanctioned. They have a combined fortune of about $29 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
ABH, which hasn’t been sanctioned, also owns Alfa-Bank, the Moscow-based lender that Fridman founded more two decades ago and helped to turn into one of Russia’s biggest with assets totaling more than $60 billion. Alfa has been sanctioned in multiple jurisdictions.
Advisors to ANNA Money are seeking at least 30 million pounds ($39 million) for the business which was set up 2017, according to a person familiar with the process. The asking price for FIBR’s U.K. unit isn’t known.
FIBR also has a separate European arm, which has its headquarters and a banking license in Holland. The business overall lent over 20 million euros ($22 million) to over 175 small and medium-sized businesses in the U.K. and the Netherlands, according to an October
— With assistance from Nicholas Comfort.
