Robinhood more than halves acquisition offer for UK fintech Ziglu

Robinhood has written down its acquisition offer for UK fintech Ziglu, slashing the originally proposed deal size from $170 million to $72.5 million, amid a turbulent time for crypto startups.

Ziglu CEO Mark Henderson told The Block the new deal has been signed and approved by the board, and the company’s shareholders. He described this as «the best deal for all stakeholders, especially customers.»

Following previous reports, he also confirmed the details in documents sent to the company’s investors on the crowdfunding platform Seedrs, that the US fintech giant had written down the deal size.

«In the week of 18th July 2022 Robinhood approached the Company and provided a clear message to the board that it, for several reasons described below, does not now intend to close the transaction on the terms of the previously agreed SPA,»said Henderson in the letter to shareholders on Seedrs. 

«Robinhood cited a range of reasons for this change, including the general crypto (winter) market impacting valuations negatively by 50%-90%, the valuation impacts of notable failures including Celsius, BlockFi and Voyager, and ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical risks,» he continued. 

The deal has been widely seen as Robinhood’s entryway into the UK market after previously canceling a 2020 launch. 

«As we look to expand internationally, we’re excited to announce that we’ve signed a deal to acquire Ziglu Limited, a UK-based electronic money institution and cryptoasset firm” said Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev announcing the deal in a blog post in April.

The Block contacted Robinhood for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication. 

The news comes amid a fluctuating crypto M&A market. On Monday, investment firm Galaxy Digital terminated its acquisition of crypto custodian BitGo. The following day crypto miner Prime Blockchain and 10X SPAC canceled its $1.25 billion merger deal. 

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