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Aristocrat Leisure has made progress in its prospective acquisition of Playtech, after stakeholders of the latter company voted in favour of selling its Finalto financial trading division to Gopher Investments.
The disposal of Finalto to Gopher was cited as a ‘key condition of aristocrat’s offer’ for the whole of the Playtech business, and has been welcomed by the gaming content and technology developer.
Aristocrat and Playtech first announced the terms of a recommended cash acquisition on 17 October, with the Australian-listed firm offering £2.7 billion, or 680 pence per share, for the FTSE250 gaming technology group – the board of which was unanimously recommended to support the deal.
Representing a 58% premium on Playtech’s closing price at the time of the revelation, funding for the all-cash transaction will be provided through a £864 million equity raising round in combination with its existing cash resources.
The suitor maintains that the recommended acquisition is on track to finalisation in Q2 2022, whilst adding that the regulatory approvals process ‘continues to advance positively,’ referring to mandatory antitrust, foreign investment, financial regulatory and gaming approvals.
Trevor Croker, Managing Director of Aristocrat Gaming, said: “The approval given by Playtech shareholders to dispose of Finalto meets a condition of Aristocrat’s recommended offer and is a further step forward in the completion process. Aristocrat’s offer for Playtech has been recommended by the Playtech Board, and is the only offer on the table for shareholders.”
“We believe that Aristocrat’s offer provides an attractive value and enhanced regulatory and financial certainty for Playtech shareholders, while the combined group will also provide greater opportunities for Playtech employees in a leading global organisation. Aristocrat is well positioned to complete the transaction as planned in the second quarter of calendar year 2022″
Upon announcing its planned takeover of Playtech earlier this year, Aristocrat explained that – if successful – it would leverage the new subsidiary’s Snaitech division to ‘operate and innovate’ in Europe, whilst working to boost its revenues, expand its customer reach and provide material scale in online gaming.
Aristocrat is not the only company to have expressed interest in acquiring Playtech, however, as the company confirmed in early November that JKO Play Limited, a consortium led by Scientific Games executive Keith O’Loughlin and former Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan, had approached the board with a prospective buyout.
