London-based IFX Payments has officially terminated its planned takeover of embattled Forex broker Argentex Group, closing the book on a dramatic financial saga.
The £3m deal, agreed earlier this year following emergency funding from IFX, has now formally lapsed after the UK Takeover Panel granted approval for IFX to activate insolvency-related escape clauses written into the original offer.
Under the terms of the agreement, IFX had the right to withdraw if Argentex entered administration or a similar insolvency process – a condition triggered last month.
London-based Argentex confirmed the deal to be off in a statement to the London Stock Exchange and that it is no longer an acquisition target under market rules.
Its shares remain suspended from trading on AIM, and without a new nominated adviser in place by the end of August, the company faces permanent delisting.
It marks a rapid and painful decline for a company that once commanded a market cap of £120m after its 2019 IPO.
The business had built a strong reputation in the foreign exchange space, handling over $200bn in FX trades across more than 140 currencies, supported by an international footprint spanning Amsterdam, Australia and Dubai.
But the business model that helped it scale — in particular, so-called ‘zero-zero’ margin arrangements, where clients could trade without posting collateral — proved unsustainable when currency markets turned.
A sharp drop in the US dollar earlier this year, triggered largely by geopolitical tensions and new tariffs caught Argentex badly exposed.
Its share price plummeted from 43.2p in late April to 2.8p just a couple of weeks later and the company was forced to halt trading and seek urgent funding.
This led to a boardroom cull at the firm, with its CFO and four directors all leaving.
Former CEO Jim Ormonde also resigned quickly after the rescue was announced, with the board unanimously supporting the sale as the best available outcome.
IFX initially stepped in with a £6.5m loan to stabilise the situation and followed that with a cut-price acquisition offer of just £3m – a fraction of the company’s previous value.
However, Argentex’s financial position continued to unravel even after the rescue plan was made public.
On July 21, special administrators were appointed to its main trading arm, followed by administration orders for the parent company and tech unit three days later.
The breakdown of the IFX deal leaves Argentex’s roughly 1,000 shareholders staring at total losses.
While the company’s board could still appeal to opportunistic buyers, any future sale is likely to come at an even steeper discount with the business now operating under administration.
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