Scientific Games Corporation announced that it acquired ownership of 27.38 million ordinary shares along with approximately 3.54 million warrants and 40,000 exchangeable preferred shares of sports betting platform supplier NYX Gaming Group Limited, which the company has agreed to acquire pending shareholder approval.
“If all of such warrants and exchangeable preferred shares were exercised and exchanged, Scientific Games would own 51,685,578 ordinary shares, representing 42.74 percent of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares (in NYX Gaming),” Scientific Games said in a press release on Friday.
The shares represent an aggregate purchase price of CAD$114.8 million (US$90.41 million).
Prior to the transaction, Scientific Games did not own, directly or indirectly, any ordinary shares. By buying the shares directly, company officials hope to counter attempts by bookmaker William Hill to block the acquisition of NYX by Scientific Games. William Hill is awaiting a judge’s decision to convert its £80 million in preferred shares that it received from backing NYX’s acquisition of OpenBet into equity in NYX. That would give William Hill a 31.9 percent stake in NYX, enough to block the merger, which requires 75 percent shareholder approval.
Scientific Games hopes to collect enough shares—50 percent plus one—to complete the merger even if NYX shareholders do not approve it at their meeting next month. The two companies amended their merger agreement last week to note that should the acquisition of NYX by Scientific Games not be approved by shareholders of NYX, Scientific Games will make a contractual takeover offer to NYX shareholders for the same share price contained in the merger agreement. “This reaffirms the companies’ commitment to move forward together,” said Scientific Games in a press release.
William Hill has said it would allow the buy of NYX to go through if there were some limits on what they combined entity can do in the nascent U.S. sports betting industry. William Hill contends its demands are “perfectly reasonable” to protect its shareholders.
NYX’s stock jumped 23.5 percent to $C2.39 on the news.
