GGRAsia – Bally shareholders approve merger with Scientific Games

Bally shareholders approve merger with Scientific Games

Nov 20, 2014 Newsdesk Industry Talk, Latest News, Top of the deck

The stockholders of U.S.-based gaming equipment maker Bally Technologies Inc have formally approved the merger with Scientific Games Corp, a specialist in lottery equipment and management also based in the United States. The decision took place at a special stockholders’ meeting held on Wednesday, Bally Technologies said.

“More than 99.61 percent of the votes represented and cast at the meeting, or approximately 76.97 percent of the total outstanding common stock eligible to vote as of the October 20, 2014 record date, were voted in favour of the approval of the merger agreement,” the company stated in a press release.

Stockholders also approved the non-binding advisory proposal regarding merger-related compensation with a vote of more than 65.83 percent of the votes represented and cast at the meeting.

Scientific Games announced in August it was acquiring Bally Technologies in a deal valued at US$5.1 billion. The firm proposed to acquire all of the outstanding Bally Technologies common stock for US$83.30 in cash per share, a 38-percent premium to the closing stock price before the merger was announced.

In September, the schedule for the completion of the deal was brought forward to end-2014, subject to regulatory approvals. The deal was initially scheduled to be closed in early 2015.

There has been a raft of other merger and acquisition deals in recent months in the casino equipment supply sector marking a year of major realignment and consolidation in the industry.