The Playtech takeover saga continued on Thursday as a fresh potential bid for the gambling software maker emerged, hours after a £2.7bn offer from Australia’s Aristocrat Leisure collapsed.
TT Bond Partners, which advised on an earlier bid for Playtech from Gopher Investments, has been given consent by UK-listed Playtech to release it from restrictions that would stop it from tabling a further offer.
“There can be no certainty as to whether this will result in an offer for the company, nor as to the terms on which any offer might be made. However, any offer, if made, is likely to be in cash,” Playtech said.
Aristocrat’s move on Playtech unravelled on Wednesday when it failed to cross the minimum 75% threshold of investor approval, with only 56.13% voting in favour at a court meeting and 54.68% at a general meeting.
The deal was effectively blocked by a group of publicity-shy Asian investors with a collective stake of around 27% in Playtech. The company was frustrated by what it called an “unwillingness to engage” on the offer by the new shareholders.
Aristocrat chief executive Trevor Croker said the “emergence of a certain group of shareholders who built a blocking stake while refusing to engage with either ourselves or Playtech materially impacted the prospects for the success of our offer”.
“Based on public disclosures, the majority of these shareholders arrived on Playtech’s register after the announcement of the recommended acquisition,” he said, calling their behaviour “unusual”.
