Argentex agrees to IFX takeover as boss steps down
Currency management firm Argentex confirmed on Friday it had agreed to a takeover by IFX Payments just hours after its chief executive exited the company.
IFX will pay 2.49 pence per share in the takeover deal, which values Argentex at near £3m.
The company will also provide the AIM-listed firm with secured bridge funding of about £6.5m.
Argentex said chief executive Jim Ormonde, who led the firm for less than two years, had left with immediate effect and that chief operating officer Tim Rudman had been appointed interim chief.
This follows the firm saying on Wednesday it was in “advanced discussions” with the cross-border payments provider regarding an acquisition.
The board said it had dismissed an offer from Lumon Acquisitions as well as fintech developer Terry Clune and Argentex’s former chief executive Harry Adams
Argentex tied to dollars woes
Argentex has battled a liquidity crisis in the wake of President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught.
The London-listed firm had its shares suspended from trading on Tuesday after it said its liquidity had significantly worsened as the US dollar weakened.
Argentex said: “Argentex has been exposed to significant volatility in foreign exchange rates, particularly in relation to the rapid devaluing of the US Dollar against other major benchmark currencies which has been precipitated by the various recent announcements from President Trump regarding tariff policies and US government spending cuts.”
The dollar hit a three-year low on Monday – with sterling at $1.34 and the euro at $1.15 – as investors weighed the severity of threats by President Donald Trump against the Federal Reserve.
The greenback’s slump was driven by Trump’s escalating attacks on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Powell was “always TOO LATE AND WRONG,” adding his “termination cannot come soon enough”.
But, the President has since retreated to a softer tone.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday: “I would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates…but, no, I have no intention to fire him.”