Slot machine and casino systems maker Bally Technologies Inc announced on Wednesday that a special meeting of its stockholders would be held on November 18. Shareholders of record, as of October 20, will be asked at the meeting to approve the US$5.1 billion buyout of the firm by lottery equipment specialist Scientific Games Corp.
Bally Technologies shareholders have been offered US$83.30 per share under the deal. The company’s stock closed at US$80.93 in Wednesday trading on Nasdaq in New York, down 0.16 percent on the day.
Bally Technologies said in late September that the planned deadline for the merger was being brought forward to the end of 2014. It had originally been scheduled for early 2015.
Under the arrangement, Scientific Games will take on US$1.8 billion of the target company’s debt.
When the deal was announced on August 1, Scientific Games said the transaction was expected to be immediately accretive to its earnings per share and cash flow, providing US$220 million in annual cost savings and US$25 million in annual capital expenditure savings by the end of the second year following the closure of the deal.
Scientific Games’ stock closed down 1.35 percent at US$10.24 in Wednesday trading on Nasdaq.
