Argentex considers sale to IFX Payments after tariffs trigger cash squeeze
Currency management company Argentex is in “advanced discussions” over an acquisition by IFX Payments after the firm faced a critical cash crunch amid President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff agenda.
In a statement on Wednesday, Argentex said whilst discussions had progressed with IFX, no certainty had been reached.
But, its board had “unequivocally rejected” an offer from Lumon Acquisitions, a vehicle of Pollen Street Capital.
The board had also dismissed offers from fintech developer Terry Clune and Argentex’s former chief executive Harry Adams.
Shares in the London-listed firm were suspended from trading on Tuesday after the firm said its liquidity had significantly worsened as the US dollar weakened.
Argentex hit by dollar woes
Argentex, which has a market capitalisation of $69m (£52m), said on Tuesday that if currency markets continue to be volatile, the firm’s liquidity position would require immediate aid or face being “significantly stretched”.
It added: “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 fell to 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.
Trump’s escalating attacks on Fed Chair Jerome Powell have done little to calm investors’ nerves.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Powell was “always TOO LATE AND WRONG,” adding he “should have lowered interest rates, like the [European Central Bank], long ago, but he should certainly lower them now.”
He posted on Thursday that “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough”, hinting that the White House wants more direct control over monetary policy, which has been set independently since 1951.
But, the President has since retreated to a softer one.
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.”