Wise set for resounding victory in battle with co-founder Hinrikus

The £10bn payments company Wise is poised to win a resounding triumph in a battle with its co-founder over plans to shift its primary stock market listing to the US.

Sky News understands that Wise will disclose on Monday that only a small minority of investors have backed efforts by Skaala - the investment vehicle of Taavet Hinrikus - to derail moves to extend its dual-class voting structure until the mid-2030s. Skaala has argued that the move, which would entrench the power of his former business partner, Wise's chief executive Kristi Kaarmann, is undemocratic and has not been handled transparently.

The dual-class voting extension is wrapped up in the wider vote on the US listing, while Mr Hinrikus has argued that the issues should be put to shareholders separately. Banking and investor sources said on Sunday that they expected Skaala to win "very limited" support given the short timeframe in which it had been trying to persuade other investors to oppose Wise's resolutions.

An extraordinary general meeting will take place on Monday, with 75% of each of the A and B class shareholders by value and a simple majority of the number of shareholders who vote needed to carry the resolutions. Last week, Skaala accused Wise of "misleading" its own investors and warned that a move to extend its current governance arrangements could be derailed in the High Court, Sky News revealed on Thursday.

Skaala said a Wise statement claiming support from three key independent advisory firms had been inaccurate, and queried why a correction had not been issued through formal stock market channels. Skaala, which owns just over 5% of the company, also accused Wise's chairman, David Wells, of making claims which were "legally and commercially unfounded".

"Skaala has put forward several practical, legally viable options for Wise to address shareholder concerns," it told Sky News on Thursday. "These include proposing two alternative schemes of arrangement - both facilitating the US dual-listing, but offering shareholders the choice to approve it either with or without the 10-year extension of the dual-class voting rights.

"Wise has thus far rejected these proposals out of hand." Skaala also claimed there was "a substantial risk the [High] Court will decline to sanction [the proposals] at the sanctions hearing in [the second quarter of 2026], given the procedural, fairness and transparency issues surrounding the scheme as presented". "In such a scenario, the dual listing would be materially delayed - possibly by months - and significant cost and risk would be introduced unnecessarily.

"This entirely avoidable situation is the direct result of the Company's insistence on securing enhanced voting rights for CEO Kristo Käärmann under the current proposal," Skaala said. Wise's existing dual-class structure was put in place in 2021, when the company floated in London with a pledge that it would revert to a single class of shares five years after its stock market debut.

Shares in Wise, which has a market capitalisation of £10.5bn, have risen by more than 40% in the last year. Wise declined to comment..