Australian gaming machine maker Aristocrat Leisure is buying European gambling software manufacturer Playtech after making a £2.1bn cash offer, the two companies said on Monday.
Sydney-based Aristocrat is paying 680p a share, a 58% premium to the company’s last closing price on October 15. It will raise AUD$1.3bn in a share sale to help fund the acquisition, an 8.6% discount to Friday’s closing price.
Aristocrat said the deal would provide it with “material scale in the already large and growing iGaming and online sports betting segment”, known as “online real money gaming” (RMG).
“This represents an estimated total addressable market of approximately $70bn globally (and) deliver medium-term revenue and earnings growth, in particular in the fast-growing North America online RMG segment,” Aristocrat said in a statement.
