Australian slot supplier Aristocrat Leisure Limited revealed that it has completed the retail portion of its entitlement offer to raise funds for the acquisition of London-based iGaming supplier Playtech PLC, raising AUD317 million (US$231.3 million).
The funds are for Aristocrat’s AUD3.9 billion cash offer for Playtech.
The institutional-investor component of the entitlement offer closed on October 20, raising gross proceeds of approximately AUD895 million.
Aristocrat said in its update that approximately 20,400 eligible retail shareholders elected either partially or fully to take up their retail entitlements, subscribing for approximately 7.6 million new Aristocrat shares, and raising approximately AUD317 million. It represented an aggregate participation rate of approximately 78 percent by value, and approximately 49 percent by number of shareholders.
Aristocrat also offered for sale under what is known as a retail shortfall bookbuild approximately 2.1 million new shares, at AUD46.60 per share, amounting to approximately AUD97.9 million, according to GGRAsia.
Aristocrat had previously acknowledged that its target Playtech had been approached by Hong Kong-based Gopher Investments, which has just under 5 percent of Playtech. Last week, the company revealed that a third suitor, JKO Play Ltd., is making a bid for Playtech.
JKO Play, controlled by former Scientific Games executive Keith O’Loughlin, is joined by former Formula One chief Eddie Jordan in the latest bid, for which the company is in discussions with New York equity firm Centerbridge Partners LP in a plan to raise funding.
