Lottoland makes €76m move for Zeal German assets

Keeping to its word, the governance Lottoland Holdings has put forward a €76 million cash offer, seeking to takeover Zeal Network’s core German market assets.

At the start of a tumultuous week, Lottoland Chief Executive Nigel Birrell had written an open letter to Zeal Network shareholders, urging for them to refuse Zeal Network’s planned takeover of competitor Lotto24 AG, which would be voted on at Zeal’s AGM on 18 January.

As a company investor, Birrell and Lottoland governance promised that the Gibraltar-based operator would move to submit a counter-offer for ‘certain Zeal assets’, offering company stakeholders better value over the Lotto24 transaction.

Countering Birrell’s scathing public criticism of the Lotto24 transaction, Zeal Chief Executive Dr Helmut Becker accused Lottoland governance of purposely sabotaging the deal, by spreading uncertainty to shareholders.

Dr Becker stated that Lottoland’s counter-offer would be reviewed, should it be submitted to Zeal governance.

However, Dr Becker outlined that there would be no delay on Zeal’s AGM, as under Deutsch Borse takeover rules, a postponement on Lotto24 voting, would trigger a 12-month cooling off period of its acquisition.

Target Lotto24 originally operated as Zeal’s ‘Tipp24’ German lottery brokerage business, which would be spun off as an independent enterprise in 2012.