At today’s general meeting in London, Zeal Network shareholders voted to approve the planned all-share takeover offer for Lotto24,
Shareholders voted 60 per cent in favour of the deal and also voted to waive the requirement on Günther Group, which will own more than 30 per cent of the combined group, to make a full takeover offer for Zeal.
The vote to excuse the Günther Group from making a takeover offer were passed by the narrowest of margins, with 51 per cent backing the move.
Dr Helmut Becker, CEO of Zeal Network, said in a statement: “Our plan to reunite Zeal and Lotto24 offers a fantastic opportunity for sustainable growth and creates significant value – for shareholders of both companies, customers and the German federal states and their lottery beneficiaries.
“We are pleased that shareholders share our vision and [have] approved the important preconditions which now enable us to make our offer for Lotto24. We look forward to launching our offer to Lotto24 shareholders shortly and to bringing our organisations together.
“The combination of Zeal and Lotto24 will create the leading private digital lottery broker in Germany, setting us up for strong growth in Germany and internationally,” said Becker.
Zeal said it will announce the beginning of the acceptance period for the takeover offer following approval by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. The company expects that the acceptance period to begin before the end of January.
The backing of the deal by shareholders appears to draw a line under the recent exchanges between Zeal and Lottoland, itself a shareholder in Zeal and a vocal opponent to the takeover of Lotto24.
