PlayAGS ends takeover talks with Inspired Entertainment 

The board of PlayAGS has alerted the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) that it will no longer proceed with deal negotiations to be acquired by Inspired Entertainment Inc.   

On 12 August, PlayAGS disclosed that it had entered negotiations with Inspired, who had proposed a $10 cash per share offer to acquire the Las Vegas-based games developer and gambling machine components provider.

PlayAGS responded that it would review the Inspired offer entering ‘preliminary discussions’ that valued its business at circa $370m.

In a SEC filing submitted to the NYSE this morning, PlayAGS revealed that “negotiations with Inspired have concluded without a transaction.”

The notice provided no information as to why PlayAGS governance had suspended negotiations with Inspired.

News of the deal falling through saw PlayAGS NYSE share price drop from $7.50 to $6.09, as of morning trading.

Industry analysts had expected PlayAGS to authorise Inspired’s deal as PlayAGS had seen its corporate valuation five-fold since its 2018 IPO.

Of significance, it was reported that Inspired had lined-up a discount buyout of Play AGS as an underperforming asset of Private Equity fund Apollo Global.

The company continues to revise its commercial pipeline which was severely impacted during 2020 and 2021, as its US casino clients limited purchases under lockdown circumstances.