PROVIDENCE – Bally’s Corp. has agreed to sell its international interactive business to a Greek-based gaming company, Intralot S.A., in a cash and stock deal valued at about $3.18 million.
Bally’s will receive a cash payment of 1.53 billion euros – about $1.8 billion – and newly issued Intralot shares valued at about $1.33 billion as part of the transaction.
The stock deal is expected to make Bally’s the majority shareholder of Intralot, which will create a global gaming technology and services company in lottery and digital online gaming markets across Europe and North America.
Bally's had already been the company's largest shareholder. Intralot’s founder, Sokratis Kokkalis, will maintain a significant stake in Intralot, which is expected to remain listed on the Athens Stock Exchange.
“The transaction we announced today marks a doubly important day: On the one hand, for Intralot, which is growing with the acquisition of the online division of Bally’s International Interactive, creating a company with significant multiples in operating profits and unlimited space to expand into online gaming,” Kokkalis said. “On the other hand, for Greece and the Greek stock exchange, where a strong large-cap company is being created with the prospect of attracting significant foreign capital, helping to establish the country as a reliable investment destination.”
Intralot has obtained commitments from Citizens Bank, Deutsche Bank, The Goldman Sachs Group and Jefferies Group LLC for debt financing of up to $1.88 billion. The company expects to raise up to $470 million by selling new shares of the company stock.
The transaction is expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter.
As part of the Intralot deal, Bally's said it has arranged to borrow $500 million through a secured loan. The company said it will use that money, combined with the cash from Intralot, to pay off existing debt.
Bally’s also has lined up a $100 million "delayed draw" loan that it can use after the Intralot deal closes, to help fund its general business, including the development of its flagship Bally’s Chicago casino.
“This is a tremendous statement of intent that signals Bally’s strong commitment to establishing a global lottery and online gaming champion,” said Soohyung Kim, chairman of Bally’s board of directors and vice chairman of Intralot’s board of directors. “By joining with Intralot, the resulting company will be anchored in Europe and will have significantly greater financial scale from which to drive growth and compete on a global basis.”
Intralot is expected to be a leading digital gaming operator and technology provider for lottery products with a footprint in some of the most attractive markets in Europe and North America.
