Finablr’s debt pile swells to over $1B

dubai — Finablr, the embattled payments group majority-owned by BR Shetty, said on Thursday it might have nearly $1 billion more in debt than what it reported previously after a review with its creditors and independent investigators.

Finablr, the holding group of Travelex and UAE Exchange, had reported net debt of $334.1 million as of June 30.

“The board cannot exclude the possibility that some of the proceeds of these borrowings may have been used for purposes outside of the Finablr Group,” the company said in a statement.

Finablr’s warning comes a day after Shetty said “a forensic probe” conducted by his own advisers had found alleged fraud at the payments network as well at the UAE-based hospital operator NMC Health, which was also founded by him.

On Wednesday, Shetty said in a statement that he was “vigorously pursuing,” all legal actions and remedies available against those who have committed fraud against his businesses and himself. He also admitted that serious fraud had taken place in both those companies. “This fraud also appears to have been undertaken by a small group of current and former executives at these companies,” Shetty said.

Shetty’s revelations came as the Central Bank of the UAE advised banks to freeze Shetty’s accounts as well as that of his family and several other people.

The CBUAE advisory was subsequent to a complaint filed by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, which has the largest exposure of Dh3 billion to NMC Healthcare, alleging “fraud and forgery” against six people, including founder Shetty, and former CEO Prasanth Manghat.

Finablr’s troubles, which started in the wake of a ransom-ware attack on its Travelex business, aggravated when NMC got enmeshed in snowballing scandals of financial misconduct.

Finablr warned last month that it was preparing for potential insolvency, while operations of UAE Exchange had been placed under the supervision of the UAE Central Bank

The company said it was verifying the debt level as it along with independent financial adviser Houlihan Lokey was engaging with creditors to explore options that were available to the group and its lenders. —