Actually, everything seemed to have been in the bag for weeks. Playtech’s board of directors approved the sale of the company’s own financial subsidiary Finalto, formerly TradeTech, to a consortium from Israel specially founded for the takeover. The shareholders convened for the deal were only supposed to approve it at the general meeting. Or at least that was the board’s plan. In fact, however, the majority of shareholders refused to follow Playtech’s board of directors and spoke out against the sale of Finalto to the consortium. This suddenly brings another takeover candidate back to the fore.
The sale of Finalto continues to drag on at Playtech
More than a year has passed and the final sale of Playtech’s financial subsidiary Finalto is still a long time coming. This time, the slot machine manufacturer’s own shareholders have thrown a spanner in the works. Because apparently the sale price was too low for a large part of the shareholders. The Israeli consortium led by Barinboim had bitcoin offered around 210 million US dollars. The equivalent of just over 170 million euros. Although the board of directors clearly supported this offer and wanted to approve the deal in a specially convened general meeting, 68.3 percent now spoke out against the sale of Finalto by Playtech to Barinboim.
The main reason for this decision is likely to be the takeover bid for the financial subsidiary by Gropher Investments, which also exists. The company had not only put the significantly larger offer of 250 million US dollars on the table. But is also one of the larger shareholders of Playtech with a share of 4.97 percent. The latter fact is likely to have helped Gropher Investment massively in finding enough other shareholders as supporters to let the deal between Playtech and Barinboim still burst at the finish line.
Due to the clear rejection of most shareholders. The board of the well-known bitcoin slot machine manufacturer is now forced to deal with the offer of Gropher Investment. Previously, the management had spoken out in favor of Barinboim and the significantly lower price. As Grophers is said not to have fully answered important questions to date. These questions concerned ownership structures and the extent to which links to China could possibly cause problems with the sale. Problems that Playtech’s board of directors must now tackle together with Grophers so that the sale of Finalto. Which has been desired for more than a year, can finally go through.
