SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Entain has moved forward with its Baltic expansion plans, securing ‘all the necessary approvals’ from relevant competition and gaming regulatory authorities for the takeover of Enlabs.
As a result, the condition for the completion of the group’s offer regarding the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals has been met. However, the firm – which operates Ladbrokes and Coral – has yet to gain the approval of all Enlabs shareholders.
Entain initially made a public cash offer of £250 million to the Entain shareholders to tender all shares in the operator on 7 January 2021. This represented an offer of SEK 40 per Enlabs share.
However, although company Chairman Niklas Braathen approved the bid, one of the key shareholders in the Baltic firm, US-based hedge fund Alta Fox, criticised the offer as having ‘materially undervalued the company’.
Alta Fox, representing 10% of Enlabs stakeholders, then argued for a minimum of SEK 55 per share, or €390 million, prompting Entain to extend its ‘offer acceptance’ period to 18 March 2021 at 17:00.
The FTSE 100 firm has subsequently increased the offer price to SEK 53 per share, valuing Enlabs at around €365 million, and further stated that the bid ‘is final and will not be increased’. Additionally, the group’s proposed buyout currently has the ‘irrevocable’ approval of 51% of Enable shareholders.
Upon acquiring the relevant regulatory approvals, Entain stated that it ‘reserves the right to extend the acceptance period of the offer as well as to postpone the date of settlement’.
In a separate update, it has also been reported by This is Money that the Isle of Man-registered gambling group is looking to sell its Intertrader stockbroking business.
The DMG Media-owned outlet further reports that Entain stated that the sale of Intertrader is ‘highly probable’ within a year.
