Playtech ends £460 million acquisition of Plus500

Playtech governance has given up its planned £460 million acquisition of online contracts broker Plus500.

Agreed in June, the acquisition of London listed Plus500 has met several regulatory delays. Last Wednesday the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) detailed to Playtech that due to “certain concerns raised” it would have push back its assessment of Plus500 to December.

The further FCA delay would jeopardise the acquisition which had prior terms that if not concluded by 31 December it may be terminated by Plus500 governance.

This morning Playtech published the following statement

“The Company has discussed with Plus500 the consequences of the recent developments with the FCA and has agreed to the termination of the merger agreement. Accordingly, the acquisition of Plus500 will not be proceeding as planned.”

The termination of the Plus500 deal represents a blow for Playtech who had outlined entry into the financial trading sector through corporate acquisition as a corporate goal at the start 2015.

Playtech governance could suffer a further setback if their $105 million acquisition of financial trading platform Ava Trade is further delayed by the Central Bank of Ireland who have opposed the acquisition.

Noting concern regarding the deal, Playtech stated that it “continues to appeal the CBI’s decision to oppose its application to acquire Ava Trade”