GGRAsia – Ainsworth investors vote on Novomatic offer June 27

Ainsworth investors vote on Novomatic offer June 27

Jun 10, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

Australia-based slot machine maker Ainsworth Game Technology Ltd says a shareholder meeting – to vote on what it describes as a proposed sale of a 52.52 percent stake in the company to Austrian gaming equipment maker Novomatic AG – will now be held on June 27.

The stake is currently held by Len Ainsworth, the founder and chairman of Ainsworth Game Technology. The takeover proposal was first announced on February 23.

“The independent directors of Ainsworth Game Technology confirm their recommendations in favour of the proposed resolution (in the absence of a superior proposal),” said Ainsworth Game Technology in a filing on Friday to the Australian Securities Exchange.

The filing also gave some commentary on matters put to Australia’s Takeovers Panel in relation to the proposed sale of Ainsworth Game Technology and a stake held by Mr Ainsworth’s wife, Margarete.

In May, Mrs Ainsworth had given an undertaking not to dispose of, transfer, or deal in, an 8.9-percent stake she holds in Ainsworth Game Technology, while the Takeovers Panel was still considering issues connected to the business.

The panel is described as an independent, peer review body and was set up by the Australian federal government. It has the power “to declare circumstances unacceptable in relation to a takeover or the control of an Australian company or a listed managed investment scheme,” according to its website.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission – Australia’s corporate, markets and financial services regulator – and an investment firm called Fortress Centaurus Global Master Fund Ltd had filed two separate applications to Australia’s Takeovers Panel for the body to look into whether or not shareholding interests associated with the family of Mr Ainsworth could vote en bloc in favour of the deal – potentially to the detriment of other shareholders.

“As a result of the proceedings before the Takeovers Panel, Votraint No. 1019 Pty Ltd, being a shareholder of which Mrs Margarete Ainsworth is sole director and shareholder, will not vote on the proposed resolution and withdraws its previously lodged online vote,” stated Ainsworth Game Technology’s Friday filing.

It added: “If the transaction for the sale of Mr Ainsworth’s shares in Ainsworth Game Technology completes, Mr Ainsworth and Votraint’s combined holding in AGTAinsworth Game Technology will be 10.15 percent.”

The deadline for submission of proxy forms for the Ainsworth Game shareholder meeting is 9.30am on June 25, said Friday’s filing.