Business Wire

FINALTO-S.P.V.-LTD

2.8.2021 19:43:08 CEST | Business Wire | Press release

Share
The Consortium Welcomes Playtech’s Confirmed Recommendation for Its Binding Agreement to Acquire Finalto and Urges Investors to Vote in Favour at the Playtech Adjourned General Meeting on 18 August 2021

Finalto S.P.V. Ltd, the consortium led by Barinboim Group and backed by Leumi Partners Limited and Menora Mivtachim Group, together with key members of the Finalto Business' management team (together the "Consortium"), welcomes the announcement by Playtech plc (“Playtech”) confirming its recommendation that shareholders vote in favour of the Consortium’s binding agreement for Finalto Group (“Finalto) (the “Binding Agreement”).

Playtech announced today that following its engagement with Gopher Investments (“Gopher”) over the past three weeks, it has not received responses from Gopher to a number of its questions and therefore Playtech has not yet been able to achieve the necessary clarity on Gopher's ultimate ownership and funding structure, source of funds or ability to obtain the required regulatory clearances .

Shareholders should ask why Gopher continues to hide and should also be suspicious of Gopher’s credibility, particularly given that disclosure is crucial when buying a highly regulated business. Furthermore, the firm associated with Gopher, TT Bond Partners, is a small boutique brokerage that raises money from Chinese investors. Gopher’s behaviour has not been well received by the market; since it first announced its interest, Playtech’s share price has fallen by nearly 17%1 .

The Consortium’s Binding Agreement for Finalto offers considerable value and certainty and puts an end to the arduous 18-month sale process

  • Voting in favour of the Consortium’s Binding Agreement, which has been unanimously supported by Playtech’s board of directors, ensures Playtech receipt of the considerable sale proceeds soon allowing it to focus on its core gambling business. The Binding Agreement was agreed after beating other rival bidders in a lengthy, arduous and transparent sale process that was run by UBS and offers far greater certainty that the transaction will complete and pass the stringent regulatory approvals.
  • The level of volatility and risk that the Finalto business is subject to and the performance headwinds that it faces, led to the ultimate price that was agreed and Playtech recommending the Consortium’s Binding Agreement to acquire Finalto. Indeed, in the original circular to shareholders, Playtech itself comments on Finalto’s tumultuous performance in 2021, underlining the businesses underperformance relative to prior years.
  • If shareholders vote against the Binding Agreement the Consortium will fall apart. Should this happen, shareholders need to reflect on the likelihood that Gopher would follow through on its indicative interest at the level they purport to offer for Finalto.
  • Voting in favour of the Consortium removes the considerable risk, delay and additional costs associated with yet another sale process, which would not be concluded until late 2022 at the earliest. Such a delay would be considerably destabilising to the Finalto business, which has already been subject to a lengthy sale process and significant market speculation.
  • From the outset of the transaction, the Consortium’s Binding Agreement was and remains fully financed by the three blue chip multinationals comprising the Consortium and a reputable senior lender. Completion is subject to Playtech’s shareholders’ approval and final regulatory approvals only, which the Consortium is already six months into and has submitted the required arduous change of control paperwork to each of the regulators in multiple jurisdictions.
  • The Consortium welcomes shareholders and proxy advisors ISS and Glass Lewis to engage with it in order to answer any questions regarding its Binding Agreement, which it believe provides the best value to Playtech.

The Consortium urges shareholders to follow Playtech’s Board recommendation and vote in favour of its Binding Agreement to acquire Finalto at the General Meeting due to take place on 18 August 2021.

The Original Circular, the Supplementary Circular and the Notice of Adjourned General Meeting are available on Playtech's website at www.investors.playtech.com/shareholder-information/general-meeting.aspx . Shareholders who have already submitted their proxy electronically at www.investorcentre.co.uk/eproxy and wish to change their voting instruction, may do so by submitting a revised Form of Proxy electronically at www.investorcentre.co.uk/eproxy .

The Consortium’s previous announcements are available here (7 July 2021) and here (9 July 2021).

-ENDS-

About the Consortium

The Consortium is a company incorporated in Israel, established for the purpose of acquiring the Finalto Business. The Consortium is being funded by a group consisting of Barinboim Group, Leumi Partners Limited and Menora Mivtachim Group and by senior secured debt financing from The Phoenix Insurance Company Limited and certain of its affiliates. The Consortium will be supported by key members of the Finalto Business' management team that will transfer with the Finalto Business, including Ron Hoffman (Chief Executive Officer of the Finalto Business) and Liron Greenbaum (Chief Operations Officer of the Finalto Business).

Barinboim Group is a private equity and venture capital firm based in Tel Aviv. Barinboim Group invests in companies operating in the media sectors.

Leumi Partners Limited is the merchant and investment banking arm of Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI), one of the two largest banking groups in Israel. Leumi Partners Limited is based in Tel Aviv and offers direct equity investment in sectors such as technology media and telecom, consumer & retail, and healthcare. Leumi Partners Limited's line of business includes conducting investments and providing services such as underwriting, financial analysis and research, strategic advice, mergers & acquisitions, and raising equity and debt.

Menora Mivtachim Group is one of Israel's five largest insurance & finance groups. The group specializes in asset management, manages the largest pension fund in Israel - and is the largest General Insurer in Israel and the market leader in Motor Insurance sector. The group operates through its subsidiaries, in all sectors of Life Insurance, Long/Mid/Short -Term Savings, General Insurance and Health Insurance. In addition, the group is active in the capital markets and finance sectors, including, Financial Portfolio Management, Underwriting and worldwide real estate investments.


1 Source: Capital IQ. July 30 close price over July 2 close price

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Signaloid Announces Appointment of Quantitative Finance and Cloud Veterans to Advisory Board and Senior Commercialization Roles14.9.2026 05:00:00 CEST | Press release

Signaloid strengthens commercialization momentum with the appointment of two senior advisors in quantitative finance and cloud infrastructure.Dr. Han Lee, former Global Head of Quantitative Strategies and Automated Trading at Morgan Stanley, joins to chair Signaloid’s advisory board.Dr. Nachiketh Potlapally, Distinguished Engineer at Nscale, and previously Security Architect at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and AWS, joins as Signaloid expands deployment of its UxHw technology across cloud and edge environments.Christian Roth, former Senior Director Enterprise Sales / formerly Director Product Marketing EMEA (Data Center, Business Clients, Storage and Networking), Intel. British technology company Signaloid today announced the appointment of three distinguished industry veterans to its advisory board and senior leadership roles, to strengthen the commercialization momentum behind its technology: Dr. Han Lee, former Global Head of Quantitative Strategies and Automated Trading for the Fixed

SES’s Final Three O3b mPOWER Satellites Successfully Launched13.9.2026 22:22:00 CEST | Press release

Additional O3b mPOWER satellites complete constellation and strengthen performance, resiliency and reach of SES's MEO network SES today announced the successful launch of its eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth O3b mPOWER satellites, further expanding its second-generation medium Earth orbit (MEO) system designed to offer high-performance connectivity services around the world. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260913914517/en/ SES’s Final Three O3b mPOWER Satellites Successfully Launched The three satellites launched at 2:49 pm local time aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. “This launch marks a defining milestone for SES as we complete the O3b mPOWER constellation and further strengthen our MEO capabilities,” said Adel Al-Saleh, CEO of SES. “More importantly, it reinforces our ability to deliver resilient, secure and scalable connectivity for

Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award 2026 Names Agimol Pradeep From United Kingdom Winner of USD 250,000 Prize12.9.2026 21:27:00 CEST | Press release

From more than 134,000 registrations spanning 214 countries and economies, Nurse Agimol Pradeep from United Kingdom has been announced as the winner of the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award 2026. A Senior Transplant Coordinator at King’s College Hospital and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Salford, UK, she was recognised with USD 250,000 at a prestigious ceremony held in Kochi, India. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260912257725/en/ Nurse Agimol Pradeep - Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award 2026 Winner (Photo: AETOSWire) Since its launch in 2021, the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award has grown into a global platform that celebrates nurses who are advancing the profession and creating meaningful change. The award was presented by Shri V. D. Satheesan, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Keralam, in presence of Dr. Azad Moopen and Alisha Moopen. The ceremony also featured a special message from Dr. Te

Last Night, a Star-studded Evening Celebrating Moncler’s Fifth Avenue Flagship Ushered in a New Chapter in the Brand’s Enduring Love Story With New York11.9.2026 23:01:00 CEST | Press release

Last night, on occasion of the opening of Moncler’s largest-ever global flagship on Fifth Avenue, special guests including Cher, Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Serena Williams, Future, Spike Lee, Jessica Chastain, Adrien Brody, Odell Beckham Jr., Maria Sharapova, Colin Kaepernick, Adriana Lima, Mark Ronson, Shaun White, Helena Christensen, Penn Badgley, Gus Kenworthy, Jordan Clarkson, Coco Rocha, François Arnaud, Gavin Casalegno, Jacob Whiteduck-Lavoie, Sam Nivola, Evan Mock, Sammi Cheng, Princess Olympia of Greece, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Daniel Arsham, Edward Enninful, Tobe and Fat Nwigwe, Joaquín Furriel, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, Nic von Rupp, Daniel Humm, Juliana Awad, Mickalene Thomas, Questlove, Michael Rainey Jr., Pete Davidson, and Francis Mallmann came together to mark a new chapter in the brand’s decades-long relationship with New York City. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260904757149/en/ MONCLER FIFTH AVE

Owkin to License K Pro and Multimodal Data to Servier to Advance Oncology Research11.9.2026 14:00:00 CEST | Press release

Owkin, the agentic AI company pioneering the first automated AI scientist to revolutionize drug discovery and development, today announced an agreement with Servier, an independent international pharmaceutical group governed by a foundation, to license K Pro, Owkin’s AI Scientist, together with multimodal patient data to advance the company’s oncology research. Under the agreement, Owkin will make multimodal patient data from its MOSAIC network accessible for analysis to Servier’s research teams, within K Pro. This agreement is the next chapter in Owkin and Servier’s collaboration, their previous work together being in patient subgroup identification, also in oncology. K Pro is Owkin’s AI scientist. It brings multimodal patient data and specialized biological agentic AI to drive smarter and faster decision-making to each step of the pharmaceutical value chain. K Pro utilizes specialized biological tools, leveraging a decade of knowledge gained through pharmaceutical partnerships and st

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye