Actually, so far everything was clear in relation to the takeover by Playtech by the games manufacturer Aristocrat. But now there is a minority shareholder of Playtech who has made an offer.

So Aristocrat is facing a fight with this candidate. Playtech has announced that it has received a counter-acquisition approach from Gopher Investments, despite already having agreements with Aristocrat.

Last month, Australian slots maker Aristocrat brokered an agreement to acquire Playtech for around £2,70 billion (€3,15 billion / $3,64 billion) on an enterprise value basis.

However, a Sky News report over the weekend suggested that Gopher, a minority shareholder of Playtech, also has a tentative approach to the deal in a deal valued at up to $3,00 billion.

The Aristocrat deal is subject to a number of conditions, both customary and otherwise, including shareholder approval of the sale of Playtech's Finalto financial trading division, which is said to be acquired by Gopher.

In September, Playtech agreed to sell Finalto to Gopher for $250 million after its shareholders rejected a board-backed bid by the Barinboim Group.

Playtech has been in talks about Finalto's investment since January this year and in May agreed the deal with a consortium led by Israeli private equity fund Barinboim Group, valued at up to $210 million.

However, in July, Gopher surfaced with a $250m cash counter-offer of its own.

The board asked the Hong Kong-based company a series of questions, mainly related to its ownership structure, ties to China and whether these factors could impede regulatory approval of an acquisition.

Gopher answered the initial questions, but Playtech said it needed further clarification on some of its answers. After no further replies were received, Playtech's board of directors announced that it would continue to support the Barinboim consortium's bid and hold its AGM where shareholders could vote on the deal.

However, the majority of voters rejected Barinboim's offer, resulting in the agreement between the Barinboim consortium and Playtech no longer being valid and the supplier being able to negotiate fully with Gopher.

Despite Barinboim's skepticism, the supplier's board of directors agreed to sell Finalto to Gopher.

Aristocrat also posted a response to the Gopher approach, noting that its own deal with Playtech was the result of a "wide engagement" between the two companies that began in April 2021 and a firm bid for the promotion re represented by Playtech.

"Aristocrat's long-term relationships with regulators in major gaming jurisdictions, combined with strong financial fundamentals, deep customer relationships and an established presence in the global gaming markets, positions Aristocrat to complete the transaction as planned in the second quarter of the to complete calendar year 2022,” said Aristocrat.

“Aristocrat believes this will provide some value for Playtech shareholders, while the combined group also provides greater opportunity for Playtech employees.

“Aristocrat will continue to work with Playtech to advance the proposed acquisition and urges Playtech shareholders to vote in favor of Aristocrat's proposed acquisition at the stockholders' meeting when the program document is released. "

Playtech shares are up 2,29% to 724,22 pence a share in London this morning, while shares of Aristocrat are down 2,13% to $47,25 a share in Sydney.

Source: igaming business (IGB)