Playtech, one of the world’s leading providers of software and content for online casinos, has finally decided to accept the sale of Finalto, its financial trading division, to Gopher Investments.
The first offer for Finalto was submitted in January 2021 by a consortium of Israeli investors led by private equity firm Barinboim Group. The offer was worth 200 million U.S. dollars, but it was met by a counter-offer from Gopher Investments, a company that owns a 4.97 percent stake in Playtech.
After several offers and counter-offers, the Playtech shareholders have finally decided to accept the bid from Gopher Investments as the sale of Finalto also represents a key step towards the advancement of the acquisition bid from Aristocrat, the powerful Australian developer of casino slot machines and digital games.
The offer from Aristocrat faced unexpected competition from Gopher Investments, the minority shareholder was rumoured to be ready to spend around 4 billion U.S. dollars to take control of Playtech. The bid from Aristocrat was worth 2.9 billion U.S. dollars.
However, the rumours regarding the offer from Gopher Investments might have been just a strategy on their part in order to get what they really wanted from the first place: taking over Finalto.