M&A WATCH- Beltone Financial is waiting on US regulatory approval to complete the sale of its 60% stake in New York-based brokerage Auerbach Grayson, according to a bourse filing (pdf). Beltone signed the stake over to an unnamed group of investors in April and expected the regulatory approvals to be completed within three months. The filing mentioned that the postponement is due to “current circumstances,” which we’re taking as a reference to covid-19.

In other company news, Beltone expects to launch its consumer finance arm within a “few weeks,” Shehab Marzban, the newly appointed CEO of Beltone’s VC arm, told Al Mal. The new company, named Bel Cash, is expected to be up and running as soon as Beltone completes a few remaining steps and the Financial Regulatory Authority gives the all-clear. Beltone submitted a request to the authority to obtain the license earlier this week, it said in a regulatory filing (pdf).