Aristocrat Leisure eyes new targets as Playtech slips away

Shares in London-listed Playtech have crashed in recent days on the expectation that a large block of Asian investors will resist the merger proposal with Aristocrat that was agreed upon in October. Picture: AFP

Aristocrat Leisure is set to spend a short period licking its wounds after the failure of its $3.9bn Playtech buyout before continuing the search for its next major takeover target.

This week, it failed to gain enough support from Playtech shareholders for its proposal and some believe it could now buy some of the company’s individual assets, although it is more likely to look for new opportunities.

Plenty of opportunities are said to exist globally.

It was largely expected to happen given shares in the London listed Playtech have crashed in recent days.

Expectations have been mounting for weeks that a block of Asian investors holding more than 20 per cent of the stock would resist the merger proposal with Aristocrat that was agreed upon in October.

Exactly why they are opposed to an offer remains unclear and some were wondering on Wednesday night whether Aristocrat could have done more to get the investors on side or whether they should have delayed the vote.

On Wednesday night, AEDT, shares in Playtech had last traded at 550p and had been above 770p after the proposal had first been announced.

Already, Aristocrat has faced a rival bidder emerging in the form of JKO Play, the company of former Formula One boss Eddie Jordan, which came forward in recent weeks with an offer of 750p per share, higher than Aristocrat’s 680p offer.

However, he shelved his takeover plans when it became evident that the Asian investors were not prepared to allow his deal to proceed.

In October, analysts had thrown their support behind Aristocrat’s plan to buy British-based gambling software and content supplier Playtech, which offers an opportunity to capitalise on the lucrative online market.

Aristocrat, founded by Australian billionaire Len Ainsworth and one of the world‘s largest gambling machine companies, had signalled to the market for some time it planned to embark on a major acquisition.

Playtech is one of the world’s largest online software gambling suppliers developing platforms and content for the gambling industry operating from 24 countries.