Philip Hammond: Former chancellor’s Railsr and Towerbrook raise offer for Equals Group

A consortium of former Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Railsr and investment management firm Towerbrook Capital Partners has upped the stakes in a potential takeover of fintech Equals Group.

Railsr and Towerbrook have proposed to buy all shares of Equals for 135 pence each, valuing the AIM-listed company at just over £253m. Shares jumped as much as 2.5 per cent when markets opened on Wednesday.

Based on its closing share price of 117 pence yesterday, Equals currently has a market capitalisation of around £219.5m.

The company said: “The improved Proposal follows a series of prior proposals from the Consortium and remains subject to the completion of ongoing final due diligence, which Equals is facilitating, and finalisation of acquisition financing by the Consortium. A further update will be provided in due course.”

Equals has extended the deadline, which has already been extended multiple times, to 5pm on 7 August 2024 to give more time for considering the offer and completing the checks. By this time, the consortium must either make a firm offer or scrap the bid.

The UK fintech firm, which offers business-to-business payment solutions, initiated a strategic review last November to assess the company’s future. It extended deadlines on talks for a potential buyout in January.

It received an offer from both London-based fintech Railsr, chaired by Philip Hammond, who served as Chancellor under Theresa May between 2016 and 2019, and Towerbrook, a $22.8bn (£18bn) investment management firm spun out from Soros Fund Management in 2005.

Equals recently reported revenue of £60m over the six months to 30 June 2024. This figure is up £14.9m, or 33 per cent, from the same period last year. The stock has risen over 18 per cent in the past year but is down 6.4 per cent since the start of the year.