Business Wire

FINALTO-S.P.V.-LTD

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

Heath Hoglund Joins Sisvel as Chief IP Officer7.1.2026 07:00:00 CET | Press release

Sisvel is pleased to announce the appointment of Heath Hoglund as the company’s first-ever Chief Intellectual Property Officer. In this role he will be fully responsible for the firm’s patent pools on a global basis. One of the world’s top IP dealmakers, Hoglund joins Sisvel having taken the decision to leave Via Licensing, where he was an outstanding President for four years. Prior to that, he had been Vice-President of IP and Standards at Dolby, overseeing the company’s patent portfolio, its patent licensing programmes, and leading on the formation and design of numerous patent pools and standards initiatives. The appointment creates a new Licensing and Programme Management leadership structure at Sisvel. This will strengthen collaboration between the functions, increasing Sisvel’s considerable growth potential. Licensing and Programme Management heads, Nick Webb and David Muus, will continue to lead their respective areas, retaining all current responsibilities. Heath Hoglund’s trac

SymphonyAI and Matas Group are Redefining Health & Beauty in the Nordics With AI7.1.2026 06:07:00 CET | Press release

Matas Group partners with SymphonyAI to streamline category management, elevate the customer experience, and accelerate growth across key Nordic markets In the ever-evolving health and beauty landscape, Matas Group continues to set the standard for innovation and customer care. As the largest retailer in its sector across Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, Matas Group is committed to delivering unified, data-driven experiences to millions of customers — both online and in-store. That commitment now takes a leap forward as Matas selects SymphonyAI, a global leader in Vertical AI platforms, as its partner to modernize category management across the entire enterprise. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260107270530/en/ Exterior of a Matas Group retail store in Scandinavia. The leading Nordic health and beauty retailer is expanding its category management capabilities through a new partnership with SymphonyAI. Fol

Lenovo Supercharges Enterprise AI with the Launch of Agentic AI and Lenovo xIQ to Deliver Full-Lifecycle Hybrid AI at Scale7.1.2026 02:00:00 CET | Press release

Lenovo Agentic AI gives organizations the governance, tools, advice, and ongoing support needed to deploy and manage production-ready AI agents faster and smarter – turning AI ambition into measurable impact.Three new Lenovo xIQ delivery platforms strengthen Lenovo’s Hybrid AI Advantage™ by delivering the automation and governance enterprises need to scale AI with confidence. Lenovo today announced the next phase of its Hybrid AI Advantage™ with the launch of Lenovo Agentic AI, a new full-lifecycle enterprise solution for creating, deploying, and managing AI agents, and Lenovo xIQ a new suite of AI-native delivery platforms designed to simplify, accelerate, and operationalize AI across the enterprise. This evolution extends Lenovo’s established Hybrid AI Advantage™ from a foundational AI architecture to a more complete, lifecycle-driven approach for deploying and scaling AI across the enterprise. Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage™ is Lenovo’s end-to-end enterprise AI portfolio, providing the

Lenovo Defines the Next Era of Hybrid AI with Personalized, Perceptive, and Proactive AI Portfolio at Tech World @ CES 20267.1.2026 02:00:00 CET | Press release

Lenovo announces Lenovo and Motorola Qira personal agentic AI across devices, new Motorola flagship smartphones, expanded portfolio of AI PCs, visionary proofs of concept including agentic-native wearables, and revolutionary inferencing servers alongside breakthroughs in AI technologies for FIFA, Formula 1®, and entertainment. Today at Tech World @ CES 2026 at Sphere in Las Vegas, Lenovo unveiled the boldest innovations yet for the future of Hybrid AI, introducing a new personal AI super agent, AI PCs and smartphones, proofs of concept including agentic-native wearables, next-generation enterprise AI infrastructure, and breakthrough industry collaborations in entertainment and sports. Building on years of AI innovation across devices, infrastructure, solutions, and services, Lenovo demonstrated how AI is now personal, perceptive, proactive, and everywhere. Lenovo’s new offerings adapt to individuals and organizations, operating as digital twins to orchestrate actions across ecosystems

Lenovo Teams with NVIDIA on Gigawatt AI Factories Program to Accelerate Enterprise AI7.1.2026 02:00:00 CET | Press release

High-velocity solutions enable AI cloud providers to achieve faster time-to-first token, accelerating ROI and production-ready AI servicesPartner acceleration program combines solutions, services and manufacturing to deliver AI at giga-scale, enabling seamless scaling to millions of GPUs for next-generation workloads Today at Tech World @ CES 2026 at Sphere in Las Vegas, Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) unveiled the Lenovo AI Cloud Gigafactory with NVIDIA, expandingand reinforcing its partnership with NVIDIA through a shared commitment to accelerating hybrid AI adoption across personal, enterprise and public AI platforms. During his keynote,Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang, joined by NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang, debuted this new gigawatt-scale AI factory program as a major advancement that enables AI cloud providers to bring next generation AI workloads and applications online faster, moving customers from creation to production at unprecedented scale. “In the AI era, value

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