Last week saw the board tell their investors that TTB Partners would not be submitting a takeover offer for the company. The Hong Kong investment fund has said that “challenging underlying market conditions” are the reason for their decision. Now Eddie Jordan could be renewing his interest in acquiring Playtech.
An extension until July 15 had been granted to TTB Partners to submit a formal offer for Playtech. It had been the belief that any such offer would top the £2.7bn that had been made by Aristocrat Leisure in February of this year.
That offer was accepted by the Playtech board but not their shareholders, including their Asian investors. 75% of votes were needed to accept the deal but only 54.68% voted in favour of the resolution.
The TTB Partners offer may not be going ahead but one of their shareholders says they will support the Playtech board and executive management team.
In response, Playtech says they still have confidence in their long term prospects dealing with the changing market conditions. They added that strong interim trading results are due to be released soon. Core earnings of over 200 million euros for the first half of the year are expected.
The company is benefiting from being able to access new gambling markets such as Ontario in Canada. They have also sold off their non-gambling assets and the cash from this has repaid their revolving credit facility.
With TTB Partners out of the running to take over Playtech, Eddie Jordan is reported to have renewed his interest in purchasing the company. JKO Play, which Jordan co-owns with Keith Loughlin first showed interest in a takeover bid last November.
Reports claimed that they’d been joined by Indian businessman Vikrant Bhargava and a bid over £3bn was possible. However, despite the extension of a deadline to make an offer, the rumoured offer of 750p a share didn’t materialise. With Aristocrat and TBB Partners out of the running, JKO Play appears to be returning to the bidding table.
Brian Mattingley is the Chair of Playtech. He said that the board will “continue to consider options to maximise value for all shareholders.” The Chair said that Playtech is “the leading technology company in the gambling industry,” so more parties are likely to be interested in taking them over. They also own Snai who are the top sports brand in retail and online betting in the Italian gambling market.
