Shareholders Wednesday approved the sale of GTECH Holdings Corp. to Lottomatica SpA, completing a major step toward making the Rhode Island lottery machine maker a wholly owned subsidiary of the Italian gaming company.
The approval took place during a meeting at GTECH’s headquarters in West Greenwich, with 99.5 percent of voting shares in favor of the deal. Votes represented 67 percent of total shares outstanding, or 85 million shares, according to a company spokesman.
GTECH announced the $4.8 billion (or 4 billion euro) acquisition in January, several months after disclosing that it had received a buyout offer.
“We believe that this transaction will position us well for continued growth in the global gaming markets,” W. Bruce Turner, president and CEO of GTECH, said in a statement.
Before the deal goes through, GTECH wants 12 entities with which it has contracts to run lotteries – including the state of Rhode Island – to approve the acquisition, said Robert K. Vincent, vice president of communications for the company.
The R.I. Department of Administration has told GTECH that it plans to make a decision at a public meeting later this month, Vincent said, and the company expects to have all necessary consents and complete the deal within 25 days. Yet GTECH has no control over the timing of those approvals, he added.
GTECH, employing some 1,050 people in Rhode Island, intends to stay in the state and keep its name following the acquisition. It also plans later this year to move into a new headquarters now under construction in downtown Providence.
The new owner has chosen GTECH’s Turner to serve as chief executive for the combined entity. Rosario Bifulco, current chairman and CEO of Lottomatica, will step down from his positions after four years.
Marco Sala, current general manager of Lottomatica, is expected to become managing director of the company – a position that would likely make him responsible for the company’s Italian operations.
Plans are to convert shares of GTECH common stock – which trades under the symbol GTK on the New York Stock Exchange – into vouchers for $35 in cash. Lottomatica stock trades on the Milan stock exchange.
According to Lottomatica, the two companies totaled $1.9 billion in revenues for 2005. The larger of the two, GTECH reported income of $1.3 billion last year.
