Billionaire Nik Storonsky could borrow up to $250 million against his Revolut stake

Revolut has proposed letting its founder and chief executive, Nik Storonsky, borrow up to $250 million against his stake in the company, a fivefold increase that would give the billionaire access to far more cash as the fintech's valuation climbs.

The London-based group wrote to investors last week seeking approval to raise the borrowing cap from $50 million and to remove a requirement for board approval on larger share pledges, according to documents. The proposed rewrite of its articles of association was prepared under an internal exercise codenamed Project Shasta.

Under Revolut's current rules, an employee owning more than 20 percent of its ordinary shares, a threshold met only by Storonsky, can pledge up to 10 percent of that holding as security for borrowing without board sign-off, and a further 5 percent with the backing of most directors. The new terms would lift the $50 million ceiling to $250 million, scrap the limit on the share of stock that can be pledged and widen the classes of shares that can be used as collateral.

The change matters because most of Storonsky's fortune is locked in Revolut stock rather than cash. He owns about 29 percent of the group, which was valued at $115 billion in an employee share sale last month, making him one of Britain's richest people on paper while leaving him with limited liquidity.

Revolut said it routinely updates its governing documents to reflect the current scale and valuation of the business, describing the change as replacing an outdated threshold with a defined cap. A person familiar with the plan said the previous limit had been set years earlier when Revolut was far smaller, and that the proposal did not reflect any borrowing that had taken place or any intention to borrow.

Founded in 2015, Revolut has grown into Europe's most valuable start-up, serving about 75 million customers. Its pre-tax profit rose by more than half last year to about $2.3 billion (1.7 billion pounds) on revenue of roughly $6.1 billion (4.5 billion pounds).

The company has signaled it is aiming for a valuation of $200 billion at a potential listing that would not come before 2028. Storonsky's incentive package could raise his stake toward 40 percent at that level, a holding that would be worth about $80 billion and place him among the world's wealthiest people.