Following on the heels of the reported £2.7bn takeover bid for Playtech by Aristocrat Leisure, Gopher Investments is being advised by Rothschild on a possible £3bn counterbid. Gopher is an investment vehicle which began building a stake in London-listed Playtech earlier this year. UK media reports suggest that a bidding war for Playtech would just be the latest development in a busy year of corporate dealing across the global gambling industry. In October, Playtech’s share price jumped following the Aristocrat offer and various undertakings from shareholders mean that any counterbid will need to be at least 10% higher than that of the Australians. So complex are such deals that whilst Gopher is currently attempting to acquire Playtech’s financial trading arm Finalto for $250m, the Aristocrat offer for Playtech is actually conditional on this sale of Finalto to Gopher. With Caesars Entertainment taking over William Hill, and its UK operations then subsequently being acquired by 888, and DraftKings walking away from plans to bid for owner of Ladbrokes and Coral owner, Entain, it has been quite a year of activity in the London market.
