Seven months on from the start of the strategic review, we are hopefully nearing a close with regards to the potential takeover of international B2B payments and fintech platform Equals (EQLS) .
Today, the company said that Madison Dearborn Partners had decided not to submit a firm offer, but instead, alongside its MoneyGram International subsidiary, was evaluating various potential strategic alternatives, including commercial arrangements focused on EQLS' B2C business and technology.
That said, the other potential offeror - a consortium comprising Embedded Finance (ie Railsr) and TowerBrook Capital - are still considering whether or not to table a formal bid. And hence, the 'Put Up or Shut Up' (PUSU) deadline has been further extended by another 4 weeks to 5pm, 10 Jul'24 in order to allow further time for these discussions and due diligence to take place.
To me, this comes down to whether EQLS' institutional shareholders can agree a fair and acceptable price with the buyer.
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