Completion of acquisition of Oonex S.A.

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 Richard Cooper, CFO	Tel: [phone] www.equalsplc.com
Canaccord Genuity (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)
Max Hartley / Harry Rees	Tel: [phone]
Peel Hunt LLP (Joint Broker)
Paul Shackleton / John Welch	Tel: [phone]
Buchanan (Financial Communications)
Henry Harrison-Topham / Toto Berger [e-mail]	Tel: [phone] 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.

 

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