A new minority shareholder in Canada-listed sports betting firm NYX Gaming Group Ltd has flagged its support for acquisition of the latter by casino equipment and lottery services provider Scientific Games Corp.
Pollard Equities Ltd said in a Monday press release it had agreed to support Scientific Games’ offer of CAD2.40 (US$1.867) per NYX Gaming ordinary share.
The release said Pollard Equities currently owned 8.6 million ordinary shares and 4.0 million warrants of NYX Gaming. “Assuming Pollard Equities were to exercise its warrants (which it will now not do), Pollard Equities would own approximately 11.2 percent of the outstanding ordinary shares [of NYX Gaming], when including the warrants exercised in the ordinary shares outstanding,” the document added.
Pollard Equities is a U.S.-based private investment company controlled by the Pollard family with direct and indirect holdings in real estate, fixed income and equity securities including an approximate 73.5 percent ownership interest in Pollard Banknote Ltd. The latter provides instant ticket products, licensed games and strategic marketing and management services for both the traditional and digital instant game industries.
The news of Pollard Equities’ support to the NYX Gaming acquisition by Scientific Games came only days after three other NYX Gaming shareholders – including British betting brand the William Hill group, which had been in litigation with NYX Gaming in the U.S. courts about the proposed deal – also agreed to support the deal.
In September Scientific Games had said it wanted to expand its existing digital gaming and online gambling portfolio by buying NYX Gaming for approximately CAD775 million, including debt.
