Chinese scupper £2.7bn takeover of British gambling champion
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Chinese investors have blocked a takeover of the British company that has pioneered much of the world’s online gambling technology.
The £2.7bn acquisition of Playtech, the FTSE 250 group founded by Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi, collapsed on Wednesday after a block of shareholders opposed the deal.
Playtech’s suitor, the Australian slots machine operator Aristocrat, has withdrawn its offer and is now considering its options.
Asian investors, understood to include former Playtech chief executive Tom Hall as well as the owner of Birmingham City, billionaire heiress Karen Lo, the former owner of Wigan Athletic and professional poker star Stanley Choi, opposed Aristocrat's takeover attempt.
Collectively they own about 28pc of Playtech shares. In total, some 45pc of investors opposed the swoop, Playtech said.
Trevor Croker, chief executive of Aristocrat, said: “The emergence of a certain group of shareholders who built a blocking stake while refusing to engage with either ourselves or Playtech materially impacted the prospects for the success of our offer.”
Meanwhile, sources close to Playtech said that the investors had not responded to repeated requests to sound them out about their views on the takeover.
Aristocrat is now understood to be reticent to return to the negotiating table in the knowledge that the group of shareholders will spurn its approach a second time.
