Austrian gaming equipment supplier Novomatic AG has extended for a third time the deadline on its takeover bid for Australian slot maker Ainsworth Game Technology Ltd. That is according to information disclosed by the target company in a recent filing to the Australian Securities Exchange.
The offer will now remain open until 7pm, Sydney, New South Wales time, on February 6, “unless withdrawn”.
The previous cutoff point had been 7pm Sydney time on January 30.
Novomatic in August made an “unconditional” takeover bid of AUD1.00 (US$0.69 currently) per share for the shares that it does not currently control in Ainsworth.
The Novomatic group and its founder and owner, Johann Graf, control 66.59 percent of Ainsworth’s shares, per a January 28 filing by the slot machine maker.
In mid-September Ainsworth said an independent board committee established by the company had “unanimously” recommended that Ainsworth’s shareholders accept Novomatic’s takeover bid.
In late October, Ainsworth said it had received a “proportionate offer” from Kjerulf Ainsworth, a son of the company’s founder, for a takeover of “2.9 percent of each shareholder’s shares in Ainsworth”. Mr Ainsworth, who had extended his offer deadline to January 30, was offering AUD1.30 per share.
Ainsworth stated at the time that Novomatic did “not intend to accept” that offer from Mr Ainsworth.
