Gopher Investments has said that it welcomes the result of a shareholder vote at a Playtech general meeting, which saw a resolution regarding the potential sale of the gambling tech firm’s Finalto financial services division voted down.
This saw shareholders vote against the offer for Finalto, which would’ve brought a $210m divestment to a consortium led by Barinboim Group, and backed by Leumi Partners and Menora Mivtachim Insurance.
Subsequently, Gopher says that it “looks forward to engaging” with the board of Playtech regarding its own $250m for Finalto, and will work to complete the acquisition “in an expedient and transparent manner”.
Earlier in the year Gopher, a 4.97 per cent shareholder in Playtech, issued an indicative non-binding conditional offer to acquire Finalto for $250m, with the inclusion of a reverse break fee of $10m, in response to a prior agreement inked alongside the aforementioned consortium.
Following numerous statements from each party, in early August Playtech said that it “is currently not in a position to change its recommendation” away from the consortium.
However, at this week’s general meeting, the firm confirmed that “at the general meeting held earlier today, the resolution to approve the disposal of Finalto to the consortium was not passed”.
Due to the latest development, which saw 68.3 per cent against the proposal as opposed to 31.7 per cent for, the consortium and Playtech have agreed to immediately terminate the sales and purchase agreement.
“The board’s stated strategy remains to simplify Playtech’s business and to dispose of Finalto for the maximum available proceeds,” Playtech said in a statement.
“Having consulted with its leading shareholders, Playtech understands that by voting against the resolution to dispose of Finalto to the consortium, shareholders have been willing to accept the risk of the SPA terminating, thereby enabling Playtech to engage with Gopher and to potentially secure better terms for a sale of Finalto.”
