Equals Group extends deadline as it courts two takeover offers

Financial services provider Equals Group updated the market on its strategic review process on Wednesday, including an extension of the ‘put up or shut up’ (PUSU) deadline.

The AIM-traded company launched the review on 1 November, to explore potential avenues for enhancing shareholder value.

It said the review involved engaging with Madison Dearborn Partners (MDP) and other potential counterparties to assess proposals that could potentially outperform the company's standalone strategy.

On 20 March, Equals received an indicative non-binding proposal from a consortium comprising Embedded Finance (Railsr) and TowerBrook Capital UK regarding a possible offer for its entire share capital.

Acknowledging the time elapsed since the start of the strategic review and the receipt of proposals from both MDP and the consortium, the board said on Wednesday that it was in the best interests of shareholders to allow further time for the review to reach its conclusion.

Regarding the PUSU deadline, which determines when potential offerors must either declare a firm intention to make an offer or state their intention not to, Equals had previously extended the deadline to 1700 BST on 17 April.

That deadline applied to both MDP and the Consortium.

However, the board said on Wednesday that it had requested a further extension of the PUSU deadline to facilitate ongoing discussions and due diligence with MDP and the consortium.

As a result, the Takeover Panel granted an extension, setting the revised PUSU deadline for both parties at 1700 BST on 15 May.

That deadline could be further extended with the consent of the Takeover Panel.

Equals said there was no certainty regarding whether an offer would be made, or the terms of any potential offer.

At 0832 BST, shares in Equals Group were up 0.97% at 125.2p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.