GGRAsia – Light & Wonder completes sale of lottery biz to Brookfield

Light & Wonder completes sale of lottery biz to Brookfield

Apr 06, 2022 Newsdesk Industry Talk, Latest News

Casino equipment and online games provider Light & Wonder Inc – previously known as Scientific Games Corp – has completed the sale of its lottery business to Brookfield Business Partners LP and the latter’s institutional partners.

The lottery business will continue to operate under the Scientific Games name. Metro Atlanta in the United States will continue to serve as the company’s global headquarters, and the entire executive leadership team will remain in place, said the lottery unit in a press release issued on Monday. Pat McHugh will continue as the company’s chief executive.

The deal was first announced in October last year.

In Monday’s release, Light & Wonder said the sale of its lottery business to Brookfield Business Partners was expected to generate US$5.8 billion in gross cash proceeds and approximately US$5.0 billion of net after-tax cash proceeds.

Brookfield Business Partners is a business services provider, part of Brookfield Asset Management Inc, a global alternative-asset manager with over US$690 billion of assets under management, according to its corporate website.

Light & Wonder’s press release stated the sale of some international lottery business subsidiaries – namely Scientific Games International GmbH and its two units – was awaiting regulatory approval in Austria. Such approval was “expected to be obtained by the end of the second quarter of 2022, with the transaction to be completed promptly thereafter,” stated the document.

Light & Wonder said additionally that the sale of its lottery business marked “a major milestone in transforming the company and its balance sheet”.

It added it would use the net proceeds from the deal to reduce its debt, as well as for share buy-backs “to return substantial capital to shareholders”, and “disciplined investment in key growth opportunities.”

“The lottery business sale closing is a significant step towards streamlining our portfolio and strengthening our balance sheet as we execute on our strategy to transform our business with a singular focus on building great games and franchises,” said Light & Wonder CEO Barry Cottle, quoted in Monday’s release.

He added: “With the completion of the lottery business sale and the upcoming sale of our sports betting business, we are moving rapidly as we execute on our vision to be a leading cross-platform global game provider and unlock the full potential of Light & Wonder.”

The sale of the sports betting business is expected to close in the third quarter this year, said on Monday Light & Wonder.

Scientific Games announced last month that it would rebrand itself as Light & Wonder Inc in the second quarter this year, as the “culmination of a year-long strategic process” of restructuring.