South African-founded global fintech firm MyBucks has been placed in bankruptcy by the Luxembourg tax authority, l’Etat du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg.
The fintech, owned by Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Afristrat, notified shareholders yesterday, saying: “Whilst MyBucks had previously made representations in court in order to prevent MyBucks from being placed in bankruptcy, the court of Luxembourg has concluded the matter and upheld the bankruptcy application.”
MyBucks has the right to appeal this matter and is considering its options.
Afristrat added its board of directors had since “concluded an analysis of MyBucks SA regarding its financial position, which culminated in the realisation that the future prospects of MyBucks as an investment vehicle was unsustainable and would not provide any realistic turnaround value for Afristrat in the future”.
MyBucks, the African-focused fintech company, offers unsecured consumer loans, banking solutions and insurance products to customers through its three brands GetBucks, GetSure and GetBanked.
The company experienced exponential growth since its inception in 2011, becoming operational in nine African and two European countries.
MyBucks, previously listed in Frankfurt, has since last year been pursuing former senior executives at its South African subsidiary, VSS Financial Service, for alleged financial mismanagement and accounting irregularities.
The unravelling of the alleged “irregularities” resulted from a damning forensic investigation that the company said at the time justified its move “to bring justice to bear and to seek rectification from those individuals that the report clearly identifies as having prejudiced VSS and its stakeholders”.
The investigation probed the merits of a R100 million investment in MyBucks by JSE-listed services group Ecsponent.
Ecsponent concluded the investment deal in January 2019 with MyBucks.
At the time, Ecsponent said MyBucks was a perfect fit in respect of the group’s target profile, as the internationally-listed company offered a high-technology, high-profit margin business, while providing significant barriers to entry.
However, Ecsponent conducted its own internal investigation after fears that the worthiness of the investment may have been falsified.
After the internal appraisal, Ecsponent instituted an independent forensic probe into “possible misrepresentation on the merits and purpose of the investment at the time of the initial investment proposal, which may have ultimately resulted in financial loss to the company”.
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