Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi has sold off a minor chunk of his holdings in gambling software company Playtech (LSE: PTEC). Through a placement by Brickington Trading, Sagi has sold nearly five million ordinary shares, representing 1.6 percent of the listed company’s issued capital, Playtech said in a notice to the London Stock Exchange .
Brickington Trading is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a trust of which Playtech's founder is the sole beneficiary.
The regulatory filing didn’t reveal the sale price, but at Tuesday’s closing price of 461 pence per share, Sagi may have raised more than £22 million.
Sagi began selling down his stake in Playtech in 2016, as he wanted to cash in on his majority holding to fund his move into real-estate investment. The latest sale will leave him with only a 4.78 percent of the voting rights of Playtech compared with a 6.3 percent stake before the placement.
Based on the previous sales, the company often agrees not to dispose of any further Playtech shares for up to six months.
Teddy Sagi
The latest transaction is the first since Sagi offloaded 32 million shares of his interest in the gaming and trading giant in June 2017 for a total of £430 million.
At the time, Sagi said the divestment was part of a move to shift focus to real-estate investment following his acquisition of Dutch property investment group Brack Capital, which develops “shared office” spaces for start-ups and entrepreneurs.
He was also quoted as saying: “I still believe in the long-term success of Playtech, [but] I want to further develop my property portfolio, not only in London but also in other European capital cities, and be in the vanguard of the co-working revolution.”
