The top line
- The deal values Playtech at 680p a share which represents a 58.4% premium to the share price on Friday. The £2.1bn offer will also see Aristocrat take over Playtech’s ~£600m of debt.
- The valuation is 11.4x EBITDA for the 12 months to June.
- The deal has been unanimously accepted by the Playtech board and will depend on the sale of the Finalto financial division. It has acceptances from shareholders representing 20.7% of Playtech’s share base.
- Aristocrat will finance the all-cash acquisition with A$1.3bn of new equity, a $2.05bn term loan and $0.8bn of existing cash resources.
AUKUS: Aristocrat CEO Trevor Croker said the deal was a “technology and talent” buyout with the US being the clear focus.
“The technology is proven globally, and they have the content and customer solutions,“ said Croker. “This also involves a large total addressable market, including the large North American market which will keep growing between now and 2025.”
He added that the deal had been 12 months in gestation. “We looked at smaller scale solutions too, which would have been cheaper, but this is the leading technology and has a leading footprint through live casino and also has the ability to provide B2B and B2C, which makes it a compelling acquisition for us.”
Awks: According to the presentation, Playtech derives a significant, c16.3%, of its business from Asia and a further 17.7% from other unregulated markets; or A$262.8m of total revenues in 2020 from a total of A$773.1m. “Yes there are unregulated aspects to it but that’s the nature of this industry,” said Croker.
Talking point: Asked whether there were some unregulated jurisdictions that were “outside of (Aristocrat’s) risk appetite”, Croker said the company would “do a full review of our risk appetite against each jurisdiction and make decisions following that in terms of which markets to exit.” It estimates it will lose ~A$78m-$125m via exiting the most risky territories. “We’re confident that it is accurate from the information we have,” Croker added.
Weathered: While the US is very much the focus, Aristocrat also spoke about the potential for bringing its land-based content to new markets in Europe, in particular Italy via Snaitech. “This is an opportunity to provide Aristocrat content into the established Italian market,” said Croker. “We can work with the experienced Snaitech management team who have weathered the storm of COVID-19 and have established themselves in Italy for some time.”
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