Playtech’s Plus500 acquisition delayed by further regulatory assessments

Playtech governance has issued an update regarding its acquisitions of financial trading operators Ava Trade and Plus500.

Alerting its investors and the media, Playtech governance stated that it expects to complete its $105 million takeover of Ava Trade by the end of September or early October.

However, the gambling technology provider has met regulatory delays concerning its £460 million acquisition of Plus500 assets. Playtech governance expects the deal to be finalised by October, nonetheless due to the profile of its acquisition, the deal has met further regulatory assessments which will likely delay deal completion until November.

Playtech has assured its investors that it is confident that its Plus500 deal will pass all assessments needed for completion. The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission already giving it the green light.

Aiming to further diversify its product range, Playtech has undertaken a series of acquisitions targeting the financial services sector. In 2015 the London FTSE listed technology provider has acquired FX Platform TradeFX for €208 million (April), binary/currency trader Ava Trade (July) and equity/stocks and commodities platform Plus500 (July).

Of its financial acquisitions, Plus500 has proved to be the most challenging for Playtech governance, who were met by opposition from the company’s biggest investor Odey Asset Management in June, who stated that Playtech has undervalued Plus500 operations.

Plus500 had seen its operations halted by the UK FCA following a failure to meet anti-money laundering standards which saw its trading services halted