FINALTO-S.P.V.-LTD
2.8.2021 19:43:08 CEST | Business Wire | Press release
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
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005628/en/
About Business Wire
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
Stallergenes Greer Foundation Celebrates Excellence in Allergy Innovation With 2025 Awards27.5.2026 17:22:00 CEST | Press release
The Stallergenes Greer Foundation, dedicated to advancing allergy research, fostering innovation and addressing environmental factors which impact allergies, is delighted to announce the recipients of the 2025 edition of its prestigious Science Awards for Allergy. Building on the success of the previous edition, this year’s awards recognise outstanding contributions to allergy research and patient engagement and allocate a total of €100,000 to support these initiatives. Four researchers have been selected by the Board as award recipients, each receiving €25,000 across two categories: Innovation In Treatment Awards Assoc. Professor Alexander Eggel, PhD, Department for Biomedical Research, University of Bern, and Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, University Hospital Bern, Switzerland, recognised for his research: “Improving diagnostic and therapeutic options for allergic patients”; Dr Janice A. Layhadi, PhD, Research Associate, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College
Capchase Secures $200M+, as Demand for Vendor Financing in Enterprise Tech Deals Accelerates27.5.2026 16:00:00 CEST | Press release
As buyers face tighter budgets, Capchase helps technology companies close more deals faster with AI-enabled instant financing Capchase, the leading vendor financing platform for enterprise tech, today announced $200M+ in incremental funding to scale its embedded financing infrastructure globally and deploy more AI-enabled features. The funding, a mix of debt warehouse facilities and equity backed by institutional investors, reflects market validation that vendor financing has become essential infrastructure for enterprise technology companies to sell hardware and software products. As global B2B buyers face tighter budgets and greater scrutiny over large, up-front purchases, financing demand is growing. The Market Shift: Financing as a Growth Lever for B2B Tech Companies The $1.3 trillion vendor financing market has been traditionally dominated by banks and other lenders that utilize multi-thread email chains to manual doc review for underwriting. Capchase replaces those bottlenecks wi
ClickHouse Tops $250M ARR and 4,000 Customers, Launches Claude-Powered Agents at Open House 202627.5.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release
Annual run-rate revenue more than tripled year-over-year; new CostBench benchmark shows ClickHouse Cloud at 23x better cost-performance than the nearest cloud data warehouse ClickHouse today opened Open House 2026, its second annual user conference, with a set of announcements that mark one of the company's most active quarters since founding. ClickHouse’s serverless cloud offering has crossed over $250 million in annual run-rate revenue — more than triple a year ago — and added more than 1,000 net new customers since January, bringing its total to 4,000. To meet the demands of AI-era workloads, the company also launched ClickHouse Agents, a fully managed agentic analytics service powered by Anthropic's Claude; published CostBench, an open benchmark comparing the major cloud data warehouses on cost-performance; and introduced House Mates, its first formal partner program. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260527
Wasabi and Liverpool FC Renew Multi-year Partnership to Scale Global Fan Growth27.5.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release
Wasabi remains official cloud storage partner of Liverpool FC during its worldwide expansion, helping fuel the Club’s global digital content strategy Wasabi Technologies, the hot cloud storage company, today announced a multi-year extension of its partnership with Liverpool Football Club (LFC), deepening its role as the club’s Official Cloud Storage Partner. The renewed deal will see Wasabi help power the next phase of LFC’s global content strategy through Wasabi AiR, the intelligent media storage service, enabling the club to move faster, scale smarter, and deliver more personalised fan experiences that bring supporters across the world closer to the club. Together, the partnership empowers LFC to create, store, find, and publish content faster, helping to deliver rapid match and social output and serve its global fanbase with richer, more dynamic storytelling. Meanwhile, LFC serves as a strategic partner in Wasabi’s worldwide expansion, with brand visibility that grows Wasabi’s partn
Kraken Launches Bitcoin Vault to Make Earning on Bitcoin Easy for Millions of Customers27.5.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release
New product within Kraken Earn gives customers a simple way to earn BTC-denominated rewards while holding Bitcoin Kraken is launching Bitcoin Vault, a new product within Kraken Earn designed to help customers put their Bitcoin to work in a simple and trusted way. Built for long-term Bitcoin holders, Bitcoin Vault enables customers to earn BTC-denominated rewards while holding Bitcoin. Bitcoin Vault is powered by Veda, with strategy design and risk curation by Sentora. Their platforms are designed to manage risks and allocate the vaults to well-known onchain protocols like Aave, Morpho, Tydro and more. It is designed to make earning on Bitcoin more accessible, whether someone already holds Bitcoin with conviction or is just starting to build a long-term position. For many investors, Bitcoin is an asset they plan to hold forever and Bitcoin Vault is built around that behavior. Instead of introducing more complexity, Kraken offers a more intuitive path: hold Bitcoin, earn rewards in BTC a
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
