Playtech Shareholders Stop Aristocrat's £2.7B Acquisition Bid

Playtech (LON: PTEC) has confirmed on Wednesday that its shareholders did not approve Aristocrat Leisure’s £2.7 billion ($3.7 billion) takeover bid. Though 56 percent of the Playtech shareholders voted in favor of the deal, it needed the approval of a minimum of 75 percent.

“Earlier today, Playtech Plc convened the Court Meeting and General Meeting in connection with the recommended cash offer made by Bidco (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aristocrat,” Playtech stated on its official notice.

“The total votes in favour of the resolutions were 56.13% at the Court Meeting and 54.68% at the General Meeting, which were below the minimum threshold (75% of those shares voted) needed to approve the resolutions. Accordingly, the acquisition of Playtech by Bidco has been terminated and the Scheme has lapsed.”

A Fall of Massive Deal

Aristocrat, an Australian slot machine maker, offered to purchase Playtech stocks at 680 pence apiece in a takeover bid last October. Then the company said that the acquisition will complement its existing services with Playtech’s offerings in the gaming software market.

Two other companies, JKO and Gopher, showed interest in Playtech with higher bids than Aristocrat, but they pulled out of the takeover race. Furthermore, Hong Kong-based Gopher bought Playtech’s financial division recently for $250 million and the deal is due for confirmation in Q2 of 2022.

Playtech already anticipated the collapse of the Aristocrat deal after it received the results of the proxy voting. Now, the London-headquartered company will consider alternative proposals that include breaking up its B2B and B2C divisions and finding new buyers.