The curve of the digital portfolio provider has planned a force test with investors next week in the middle of the proposed takeover of 120 million pounds of the company by Lloyds Banking Group.
Sky News understands that Curve has agreed to convene an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) in the first days of October following an IDC Ventures request, its greatest external shareholder.
Sources said on Monday that investors opposed to the terms of the sale of Lloyds sought the abolition of Lord Fink, the city who presides over the curve, and Shachar Bialick, the founder and chief executive officer of La Fintech, as directors of the company.
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The EGM will reflect the hostility which emerged between the two factions, with IDC – a shareholder of 12% – angry with the proposed distribution of the product of the sale.
Curve, which has constantly ignored the media surveys on the agreement, would have insisted on shareholders that the transaction was managed in a reasonable manner and in the interest of all shareholders.
Last week, IDC Ventures published a statement to Sky News in which he noted “with concern the recent renewal of the renewal of Lord Stanley Fink as director and president on July 31 after the appointment shareholder made his withdrawal on July 29”.
IDC Ventures added: “As a long -standing investor in CURVE, in almost every year since 2019, we are deeply disappointed by the approach of the board of directors of this transaction and the failure to engage with us.
“The Council refuses to provide us with basic information on the transaction, or how it can be legally implemented without our support.”
IDC Ventures, who appointed the London law firm, Quinn Emanuel, to advise him on the situation, invested for the first time in CURVE six years ago and participated or managed several series of financing for the company.
Earlier this month, Sky News reported that Mr. Bialick has recognized that the sale price was disappointing and warned that the company would probably lack money this year unless a sale in Lloyds is agreed.
In total, CURVE would have collected at least 250 million pounds sterling since its creation.
IDC Ventures added last week that it “acts firmly and decisively to protect our commercial interests and expect the board of directors, and Lloyds, to properly engage with our concerns before making any purchase and potentially expose all stakeholders to prolonged disputes and destructive value”.
The fund had previously praised business technology and expressed the conviction that it would be part of the winners in the rapidly evolving payments.
“Thanks to their unique technology … They have the capacity to intercept the transaction and to overeat the customer experience, with its double -dip awards, (and) to eliminate unpleasant hidden costs,” said IDC Ventures at the time of its fundraising C.
“And they do it transparently, without the customer to change the cards with whom they pay.”
Lloyds hopes that the purchase of the curve will give it an advantage in the race to build smarter online payment systems in a context of increasing regulatory pressure on Apple to open its payment services to its competitors.
Curve did not respond to an email request for comments on the calendar of the shareholders’ meeting.