The Jordan-O’Loughlin consortium, headed by Eddie Jordan, has pulled out of its proposal to purchase Playtech. The gaming behemoth, however, is still unsure whether Aristocrat’s rival takeover offer will receive shareholder approval.
The Jordan-O’Loughlin consortium, led by former Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan and industry veteran Keith O’Loughlin, emerged as a possible buyer of Playtech in November 2021.
The group had been gathering due diligence information and continuing its engagement with Playtech, and earlier this month Playtech decided to delay a shareholder meeting to approve Aristocrat’s takeover bid to allow more time to consider the Jordan-O’Loughlin consortium’s potential takeover offer.
The Jordan-O’Loughlin consortium was initially given a deadline of January 5 to submit its takeover bid for Playtech – a deadline agreed upon by both parties and Aristocrat. However, this deadline was extended to the date of the rescheduled meeting (February 2).
The Jordan-O’Loughlin consortium needed to clarify whether it would submit its takeover bid by 5pm on January 26.
However, in a brief statement released this morning (January 21), the Jordan-O’Loughlin consortium announced that it would not pursue its interest in the takeover bid and withdrew from the process.
“The Eddie Jordan Family Office and Keith O’Loughlin, JKO Play Limited, 0.
JKO Play, which controls a significant portion of Playtech, has determined not to submit a proposal to acquire the company.
This implies that Aristocrat, the Australian gaming machine enterprise, remains the sole contender seeking to purchase Playtech. Aristocrat established an agreement in October 2021 to acquire Playtech for roughly £2.7 billion (€3.24 billion/$3.67 billion).
Playtech’s executive board stated their belief that shareholders should cast their ballots in favor of selling the company to Aristocrat. They asserted that this would be beneficial for the company and generate increased financial gains. They maintained that this remains valid despite JKO Play’s withdrawal of interest.
However, Playtech expressed uncertainty regarding the voting outcome next month.
Playtech disclosed that certain substantial investors have yet to declare their voting intentions concerning Aristocrat’s offer. Some of these investors have accumulated a considerable amount of Playtech shares since Aristocrat presented their proposal.
Playtech indicated that they will proceed to the meeting without certainty regarding the voting decisions of these investors.
Aristocrat acknowledged this situation and continues to urge all Playtech shareholders to vote in favor of selling the company to them next month.
The Playtech board was strongly urged by Aristotle to make every effort to finalize the agreement with him, ensuring that Playtech investors receive a fair return on their investment. This was stated by the firm in a statement.
The acquisition was initially scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2022.
Playtech shareholders voted in December to sell their financial trading division, Finalto, to Gopher Investments. This was a critical step in the process of finalizing the Aristotle deal.
Gopher had previously expressed interest in acquiring Playtech, but withdrew their offer two weeks later.
