Playtech has completed the sale of its financial trading division, Finalto, to Gopher Investments for $250m (£209m/€247.2m), ending a year-long saga over control of the division.
The all-cash sale was finalised today (11 July), more than one year after Gopher – a minority shareholder in Playtech – first placed its bid.
Gopher managed to outbid a consortium led by Barinboim Group, which had bid $210m. The Playtech board had initially agreed to sell Finalto to Barinboim, but this deal was rejected by shareholders who pushed for Gopher’s higher bid.
Following this, Playtech agreed to sell to Gopher in September last year. Shareholders agreed to this in December.
Last week, Playtech projected that the deal would be completed by mid-July, after it was supposed to be completed on 30 June.
“Gopher is delighted to have completed the acquisition of Finalto,” said Teresa Teague, director at Gopher.
“We have been impressed by the strength of Finalto’s business and management team and look forward to working closely with the team to accelerate Finalto’s ambition to become the global partner of choice in the financial trading sector.”
Playtech decided to sell Finalto in March 2021, two years after it first considered divesting the business.
Playtech itself could also be sold soon. The company had initially agreed to be acquired by Aristocrat but this deal fell through due to insufficient shareholder support.
JKO Play had made an approach to acquire Playtech, but withdrew later.
TTB Partners – a company that held an advisory role to Gopher – entered the race in February this year.
However, TTB Partners was placed under certain restrictions by Playtech, meaning that it could not form an offer until after 20 May. It was then given a deadline of 17 June to sunmit a bid, before this was pushed back to 15 July.
