Mubadala Favors Selling Fintech Wefox to Ardonagh Against Founders’ Wishes - Bloomberg

Mubadala Favors Selling Fintech Wefox to Ardonagh Against Founders’ Wishes - Bloomberg

Mubadala Investment Co. has proposed selling troubled insurance tech startup Wefox Holding AG to UK insurance broker Ardonagh Group Ltd. in a deal opposed by the German firm’s founders.

The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund has told Wefox shareholders it expects an offer from Ardonagh that would give the German firm an enterprise value of as much as €550 million ($595 million), according to a presentation from Mubadala that was seen by Bloomberg. Wefox was valued at $4.5 billion in a Mubadala-led funding round two years ago.

The Berlin-based company lost more than €100 million last year and is now facing as much as €70 million in fresh capital needs through the end of the current year, according to the Mubadala presentation, which was addressed to the company’s key shareholders including Chrysalis Investments and Target Global.

Mubadala, which has $300 billion in assets under management, has become increasingly assertive in some of the startups it funded when low rates helped fuel a boom in venture capital investments. At Turkish grocery delivery business Getir, where it is also the biggest investor, Mubadala pushed for changes to the board and a revamp of its strategy earlier this year.

Wefox’s founders and some early investors oppose the deal as it would put them at risk of losing their entire investment, according to people familiar with the situation. Instead of a sale, they’re proposing a new funding round by existing investors, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private.

Chrysalis and Target support the alternative deal put forward by the Wefox founders, the people said. Chrysalis is working on a term sheet for a €50 million financing round, in which it would participate with €15 million, according to a separate presentation seen by Bloomberg.

Representatives for Mubadala, Wefox, Ardonagh, Target and Chrysalis declined to comment.

How #SaudiArabia won back Biden

How Saudi Arabia won back Biden

“There will be consequences”. 

It was the warning a fuming Joe Biden hurled at Saudi Arabia during a CNN interview in the autumn of 2022, a week after the kingdom announced deep cuts to its oil production. 

The US president feared the move risked pushing up crude prices amid the turmoil triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine. American officials, blindsided by the Saudi decision, considered it a slap in the face to an administration concerned about domestic gasoline prices in the run-up to midterm elections. 

For Biden it was personal. The production cut announced by Opec+, the Saudi-led oil cartel, came just three months after he had expended significant political capital by travelling to the kingdom for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom the president had previously refused to engage with. 

Behind the scenes, harsh words were exchanged. Some in the administration thought the Saudis, who insisted their decision had been based on market dynamics, had deliberately screwed them. It became a make-or-break moment after months of efforts to repair ties between the two. Biden threatened another “review” of the relationship. 

Yet the “consequences” Biden threatened never materialised and what could have been a rupture instead became merely a setback in attempts by both sides to rebuild the relationship. 

In the months since, relations between the US and Saudi Arabia have blossomed, with the kingdom transitioning from pariah to what administration officials describe as one of Washington’s most important global partners.