PROVIDENCE – Shareholders of both Bally’s Corp. and Gamesys Group PLC have approved the proposed multibillion-dollar acquisition of Gamesys by Bally’s, the companies announced Thursday.
The approval is for the companies’ definitive agreement in which Bally’s would purchase Gamesys’ common shares, with shareholders being able to elect to receive newly issued shares of Ballys at a rate of $25.42 per Gamesys share, or to opt for a share alternative at $20.85 per Gamesys share. Gamesys has 109.5 million common shares outstanding and 2.5 million shares issuable under various instruments, the companies said.
If all Gamesys shareholders opt for the share alternative, the deal would be worth up to $2.2 billion, the companies said. Bally’s said that the total purchase consideration, including debt and the value of Bally’s shares issued, would be roughly $3.4 billion.
Gamesys is an online gaming group that offers bingo and casino games to its customers under various brands in multiple countries.
“We are very pleased to have received our shareholders’ support, enabling us to achieve this next milestone toward the transaction close,” said Soo Kim, chairman of Bally’s board of directors. “By combining with Gamesys, we will meaningfully accelerate our growth strategy to become a premier, global, omni-channel gaming company, which we believe will create significant long-term shareholder value.”
Rhode Island-based Bally’s expects to complete the acquisition in the fourth quarter of 2021. The deal is still pending regulatory approval.
“This combination represents a compelling opportunity to integrate Gamesys’ market-leading gaming technology with Bally’s growing U.S. gaming platform to create a vertically integrated company that is poised to capitalize on the rapidly expanding U.S. online sports betting and iGaming market, stated Gamesys CEO Lee Fenton. “Given our comprehensive suite of collective assets and our track record of successfully developing online gaming operations in highly-competitive markets, we believe we will be able to offer customers a unique and differentiated approach to gaming.”
Bally’s has significantly expanded over recent years, purchasing multiple casinos properties, a sports betting platform, a daily fantasy sports website, and a free-to-play gaming provider.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. You may reach him at Bergenheim@PBN.com.
