Amigo: Subprime lender’s mooted switch to music streaming at end of the road
Amigo’s last ditch attempt to salvage value for shareholders through a reverse takeover has hit the end of the road.
In a statement to the market today, the subprime lender confirmed that talks with Craven House Capital had been terminated with “immediate effect” meaning all work on the transaction has stopped.
“This is disappointing news as the transaction, in the form of a reverse takeover of Amigo, offered a solution that could have provided a future for shareholders, offering some small value that wouldn’t be available otherwise,” Danny Malone, chief executive of the ailing firm said.
Under the terms of the transaction announced in October, Amigo would have bought four businesses, backed by Craven House, in exchange for new shares in Amigo.
The businesses would have included music streaming service ONE Bas.com, Swedish film streaming service TV Zinos, payments provider Payzinos, and digital magazine company Magazinos
In effect, it would have given the businesses access to Amigo’s London listing through a reverse takeover.
Shares in Amigo were suspended when the announcement was made due to a lack of detail about the deal. Now the deal has been terminated, Amigo has requested that the temporary suspension on its shares are lifted.
Amigo has been heading for a wind down since it stopped business at the end of March having failed to raise £15m in emergency cash.
Amigo confirmed that the wind down of its historic lending business continues to its existing timetable.
The subprime lender had been on life support since it was suspended from lending by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2020 for failing to perform adequate checks on consumers it lent to.