Barclays Plc and London hedge fund Fidera Ltd are among dozens of creditors seeking recovery from Dubai's United Arab Emirates Exchange Center LLC, a collapsed remittance provider with an estimated $1 billion balance sheet hole. Thirty-six creditors have lodged claims with the court-appointed trustee, including Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Bank of Baroda. The process stems from a 2016 credit facility provided to UAE Exchange and its parent UX Holdings by a syndicate of banks, including Goldman Sachs International, which later assigned its rights to Rejira S.à r.l., the Luxembourg-based company connected to Fidera.
Fidera claims approximately $90 million owed based on a July court judgment declaring UAE Exchange insolvent. The bankruptcy trustee has requested more time to verify the total claim value. Prior to Finablr's 2020 collapse, UAE Exchange was one of the group's largest businesses alongside Travelex.
The group, founded by Indian businessman B. R. Shetty, faced a crisis after short seller Muddy Waters targeted NMC Health Plc in late 2019, leaving Finablr short of cash needed to process payments.
UAE Exchange halted transactions in March 2020. Although an affiliate of Swiss-based Prism Group and Abu Dhabi investment firm Royal Strategic Partners agreed to acquire Finablr's remaining business for $1, the proposed transfer of UAE Exchange failed to obtain necessary regulatory approvals. The firm remains under UAE Central Bank supervision.
An external assessment estimates UAE Exchange's net assets at roughly negative AED 3.8 billion ($1.03 billion) in 2025, compared to positive AED 828 million at the end of 2018. The company has no employees, no license or operations, and insufficient funds for restructuring.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing