The acquisition of Gamesys Group by Bally’s Corporation is now closer to completion, after the board of the US betting and gaming conglomerate obtained the required votes for all shareholder approvals.
Under the terms of the initial takeover agreement signed in April, the merger will see Bally’s, in cooperation with Premier Entertainment, acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Gamesys – which requested to delist from the London Stock Exchange following the initial announcement.
Upon completion of the agreement, the new combined group will be headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, putting an end to Gamesys’ UK-headquartered operations.
Lee Fenton, Chief Executive Officer at Gamesys, reamarked: “This combination represents a compelling opportunity to integrate Gamesys’ market-leading gaming technology with Bally’s growing US gaming platform to create a vertically integrated company that is poised to capitalise on the rapidly expanding US online sports betting and iGaming market.
“Given our comprehensive suite of collective assets and our track record of successfully developing online gaming operations in highly-competitive markets, we believe we will be able to offer customers a unique and differentiated approach to gaming.”
The scheme is expected to become effective in the fourth quarter of 2021, with Gamesys providing notice of any changes to key dates set out in the time to the Regulatory Information Service.
However, although the transaction is expected to be finalised by the end of Q4 2021, the merger is still subject to customary conditions including regulatory approval.
“We are very pleased to have received our shareholders’ support, enabling us to achieve this next milestone toward the transaction close,” said Soo Kim, Chairman of Bally’s Corporation’s Board of Directors.
“By combining with Gamesys, we will meaningfully accelerate our growth strategy to become a premier, global, omni-channel gaming company, which we believe will create significant long-term shareholder value.
“We look forward to closing the transaction later this year, and working with Lee and the rest of Gamesys’ seasoned management team.”