The digital wallet provider Curve has scheduled a showdown with investors next week amid anger over the company’s proposed £120m takeover by Lloyds Banking Group.
Sky News understands that Curve has agreed to convene an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) in the first few days of October following a demand from IDC Ventures, its biggest external shareholder.
Sources said on Monday that investors opposed to the terms of the sale of Lloyds were seeking the removal of both Lord Fink, the City grandee who chairs Curve, and Shachar Bialick, the fintech’s founder and chief executive, as directors of the company.
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The EGM will reflect the hostility which has emerged between the two factions, with IDC – a 12% shareholder – angry at the proposed distribution of the sale proceeds.
Curve, which has persistently ignored media enquiries about the deal, is understood to have insisted to shareholders that the transaction has been handled in a reasonable manner and in the interests of all shareholders.
Last week, IDC Ventures issued a statement to Sky News in which it noted “with concern the recent reappointment of Lord Stanley Fink as director and chairman on 31 July after the appointing shareholder had effected his removal on 29 July”.
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IDC Ventures added: “As long-standing investors in Curve, in almost every year since 2019, we are deeply disappointed by the board’s approach to this transaction and failure to engage with us.
“The board is refusing to provide us with basic information about the transaction, or how it can lawfully be implemented without our support.”
IDC Ventures, which has appointed the London law firm Quinn Emanuel to advise it on the situation, first invested in Curve six years ago and has participated in or led several funding rounds for the company.
Earlier this month, Sky News reported that Mr Bialick had acknowledged that the sale price was disappointing, and warned that the company would probably run out of money this year unless a sale to Lloyds was agreed.
In total, Curve is understood to have raised at least £250m in funding since it was established.
IDC Ventures added last week that it would “act firmly and decisively to protect our commercial interests and expect the board, and Lloyds, to engage properly with our concerns before proceeding with any purchase and potentially exposing all stakeholders to prolonged and value-destructive litigation”.
The fund had previously praised the company’s technology and expressed a belief that it would be among the winners from the fast-evolving payments sector.
“Thanks to their unique technology…they have the capability to intercept the transaction and supercharge the customer experience, with its Double Dip Rewards, [and] eliminating nasty hidden fees,” IDC Ventures said at the time of its Series C fundraising.
“And they do it seamlessly, without any need for the customer to change the cards they pay with.”
Lloyds hopes that buying Curve will give it an edge in the race to build smarter online payments systems amid growing regulatory pressure on Apple to open its payment services to rivals.
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Curve did not respond to an emailed request for comment about the timing of the shareholder meeting.
