Aristocrat Leisure Limited, the gigantic Australian supplier of slot games for land-based and online casinos, is expected to pursue an expansion strategy through mergers and acquisitions in the following period.
This assumption was made by Fitch, the famous international ratings agency, which examined Aristocrat Leisure Limited and affirmed the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings for the company at “BBB-” with a stable outlook.
The ratings agency also noted that the Australian company is in a strong financial position and that it could even settle any merger and acquisition deals using cash as it has plenty of reserves.
The Fitch report also highlighted the fact that Aristocrat is in a net cash position as its liquidity was boosted by an equity raise of 1.3 billion Australian dollars in the second part of 2021, when the Australian company made an offer to acquire Playtech, another global gaming giant.
The deal eventually fell through, but the money raised by Aristocrat to fund this bid is still available, which means the company is able to pursue other opportunities for mergers and acquisitions.
Fitch also mentioned that it expects Aristocrat to acquire businesses in the real-money gaming sector and that the Australian company is “in a flexible position to comfortably fund small to mid-size acquisitions and major share buybacks with cash.”