Former Chancellor Hammond’s fintech Railsr aims to merge Equals.

TLDR:

• Lord Hammond’s fintech company Railsr has approached London-listed payments firm Equals Group for a potential merger.
• Railsr, part of Embedded Finance, offers banking and card services, while Equals Group provides payment solutions to corporate clients.

A British financial technology company chaired by Lord Hammond of Runnymede, the former chancellor, has made an approach to merge with a London-listed peer. Railsr, which Lord Hammond joined only last month, has written to Equals Group to propose a combination of the two companies. Railsr, whose parent company is called Embedded Finance, provides banking-as-a-service and cards-as-a-service with offerings such as card issuing and virtual wallets. Equals Group, which offers business-to-business payment solutions to corporate clients, confirmed in a stock exchange announcement that it remained in an offer period and extended a deadline for formal offers until mid-April. US-based private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners and other suitors are also examining offers for Equals Group. Railsr, best known for acquiring assets from the defunct German technology company Wirecard, has appointed Philippe Morel as its CEO and raised about £20m from investors last autumn.