Completion of acquisition of Oonex S.A.
05/07/2023 07:00
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RNS Number : 9772E Equals Group PLC 05 July 2023
For immediate release 5 July 2023
Equals Group plc
('Equals', the 'Group' and the 'Company')
Completion of acquisition of Oonex S.A.
Equals (AIM:EQLS), a leading fintech payments group focused on the SME
marketplace, is pleased to announce that, following its announcement on 27
March 2023 of entering a conditional agreement to acquire the entire issued
share capital of Oonex S.A. ('Oonex'), the National Bank of Belgium ('NBB')
has confirmed that it had no objections and, as such, the transaction
completed on 4 July 2023.
The Acquisition of Oonex, together with its regulatory licences and banking
relationships, allows Equals to bring its payments, cards, and multi-currency
account products to a new suite of customers across Europe. The ability of
Oonex to issue local IBANs within the Eurozone will significantly expand the
addressable market for the Group's platform and products and fits with Equals'
strategy to provide the best B2B platform for worldwide money movement.
As stated in the announcement on 27 March 2023, the Acquisition consideration
is being satisfied by the initial issue of 3,938,294 Ordinary Shares of 1p
each in Equals Group plc ('Ordinary Shares'). Further tranches of 61,706 and
up to 1,000,000 Ordinary Shares (subject to conditions) will be issued over
the next six months. All Ordinary Shares issued as consideration for the
Acquisition ('Consideration Shares') will be subject to a lock-in agreement
for two years from Completion.
The Acquisition is expected to be earnings accretive for the Group in the
medium term.
Application has been made for the initial tranche of Consideration Shares to
be admitted to trading on AIM ('Admission') and it is expected that the
3,938,294 Consideration Shares will be admitted to trading on 6 July 2023.
Following Admission, the Company will have 185,731,589 Ordinary Shares in
issue admitted to trading on AIM. The Company holds no shares in Treasury.
Accordingly, the above figure 185,731,589, may be used as the denominator for
calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their
interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's
Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Definitions contained herein have the same meaning as those used in the
Acquisition announcement dated 27 March 2023.
Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO of Equals, said: "We are delighted that the NBB has
confirmed that it had no objections to the change of control for Oonex, so we
can now commence growing the business in Brussels as well as integrating it
into the Equals technology platform. We see Oonex as a tremendous
opportunity for the Group as it allows us to distribute our market leading
platform, products, and capabilities to new customers across the Eurozone and
we look forward to updating shareholders on its progress in the coming
months."
Ends
For more information, please contact:
Equals Group plc
Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO Tel: +44 (0) 20 7778 9308
Richard Cooper, CFO www.equalsplc.com (http://www.equalsplc.com)
Canaccord Genuity (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)
Max Hartley / Harry Rees Tel: +44 (0) 20 7523 8150
Peel Hunt LLP (Joint Broker)
Paul Shackleton / John Welch Tel: +44 (0) 20 7418 8900
Buchanan (Financial Communications)
Henry Harrison-Topham / Toto Berger Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000
equals@buchanan.uk.com (mailto:equals@buchanan.uk.com) www.buchanan.uk.com (http://www.buchanan.uk.com)
Notes to Editors:
Equals Group plc is a technology-led international payments group augmented by
highly personalised service for the payment needs of SME's whether these be
FX, card payments or via Faster Payments. Founded in 2007, the Group listed on
AIM in 2014. For more information, please visit www.equalsplc.com
(http://www.equalsplc.com) .
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