SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
FTSE listed gambling technology provider Playtech has confirmed that it has withdrawn its application to buy forex financial trading platform Ava Trade.
As expected, the technology provider terminates its acquisition deal which had met regulatory opposition from the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI).
Playtech confirmed that its CBI appeal had been allowed by the Irish Financial Services Appeals Tribunal on “the grounds of error by the CBI’s decision making progress”.
The appeal would have allowed Playtech to remit its review to the CBI for reconsideration of the Ava Trade acquisition.
However given that Ava Trade had terminated the $105 million acquisition 23 November, Playtech governance has decided to withdraw its application, “bringing the process to a conclusion”.
November further saw Playtech terminate its £460 million acquisition of contract trading platform Plus500, since the deal could not be completed by it 31 December target date.
The failure in completing its acquisition deals has frustrated Playtech governance who had outlined services expansion into the financial trading sector at the start of 2015.
Last week the UK business news sources reported that Playtech would enter 2016 with a £500 million cash fund which would be likely used to fund new target acquisitions.
