Time certainly flies, and even more so in the fast-paced Fintech space.
In October, our article covered the initiation of M&A talks between Canadian Neobank RevoluGROUP (TSXV REVO) (Frankfurt: IJA2) with yet undisclosed parties. Facts are thin on the ground, but we know that a European Financially Regulated entity allied to a UAE Based Financial Consultancy firm entered M&A talks with RevoluGROUP on Oct 17, 2022. The talks look to have progressed because a few weeks after our piece, the company informed its shareholders that the oftentimes ‘make-or-break’ Documentary Due Diligence phase was completed successfully. Just 18 days later, on November 25th, yet another negotiation milestone came and went, this time the signing of a preemptive post-acquisition ‘Mutual Business Development Strategy’ presumably projecting the suitor’s intentions with the company over two years if the acquisition transpires.
While shareholders have scant information, it’s blatantly evident that the Fintech space has seen an explosion in acquisitions in 2022, probably more than any other year over the previous decade. While some onlookers considered the acquisition deal dead in the water, on November 29th, the company issued news advising its shareholders that the suitors and management needed more time to conclude the agreement extending talks until December 8th, 2022. And that is where we stand today. Will RevoluGROUP be yet another Fintech acquisition statistic in 2022?
Interestingly blended into the above timeline, certain other clues emerged in corporate news. For instance, the company added Venezuela to its roster of now 120 countries. So you could say, what’s so interesting about Venezuela? Well, there’s one little-known fact, Venezuela is classified as the world’s third-largest adopter of cryptocurrencies. Annually billions of dollars are flowing bilaterally from/to the country. Some say that the crypto winter is here to stay and that any business associated with it is doomed. But what if crypto becomes regulated as it appears to be happening, and the opposite becomes true?
Moving past that single clue, RevoluGROUP, to very little fanfare, launched its financial operations in Canada and the United States right amid these M&A talks. Just today, they added the United Kingdom to their plethora of now 120 transactional countries. Could the addition of these countries connect with the ongoing M&A talks? Coincidentally, RevoluGROUP just added three of the largest economies on planet earth to its impressive 120-country financial transactional geographic exposure. A fluke or deliberate?
If you’ve read to this point, it should be pretty clear that something is happening here, and it isn’t usually observed on a Venture exchange and much less our Canadian one.
RevoluGROUP seems to be on the verge of something substantial, while M&A in its sector is red hot. Judging by management’s methodical completion of every negotiation phase save for the all-important last one, namely deal-or-no-deal, shareholders are itching to know the outcome come December 8th, 2022. It could go either way, but if you’re into reasonable probabilities, most M&A deals don’t get this close to the wire.
RevoluGROUP is a Stockhouse Publishing client.
