Playtech Approves Finalto Sale, Clears Way For Aristocrat Takeover

Playtech, one of the world’s leading providers of software and content for online casinos, has finally decided to accept the sale of Finalto, its financial trading division, to Gopher Investments.

The first offer for Finalto was submitted in January 2021 by a consortium of Israeli investors led by private equity firm Barinboim Group. The offer was worth 200 million U.S. dollars, but it was met by a counter-offer from Gopher Investments, a company that owns a 4.97 percent stake in Playtech.

After several offers and counter-offers, the Playtech shareholders have finally decided to accept the bid from Gopher Investments as the sale of Finalto also represents a key step towards the advancement of the acquisition bid from Aristocrat, the powerful Australian developer of casino slot machines and digital games.

The offer from Aristocrat faced unexpected competition from Gopher Investments, the minority shareholder was rumoured to be ready to spend around 4 billion U.S. dollars to take control of Playtech. The bid from Aristocrat was worth 2.9 billion U.S. dollars.

However, the rumours regarding the offer from Gopher Investments might have been just a strategy on their part in order to get what they really wanted from the first place: taking over Finalto.

Playtech has revealed that it will work together with Aristocrat to complete the acquisition, which is expected to be wrapped up sometime in the second quarter of 2022. Trevor Croker, the Chief Executive Officer of Aristocrat, stated that the sale of Finalto meets one of the conditions that his company introduced in the takeover bid.

Playtech also received a preliminary approach from JKO Play, a company led by Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan and Keith O’Loughlin, but the discussions never went past the early stages.

Trevor Croker expressed his certainty regarding the solidity of the Aristocrat takeover deal, adding: “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.”

Source: “Aristocrat acquisition on track as Playtech sells off financial trading division“. Inside Asian Gaming. December 2, 2021.