Austrian gaming equipment supplier Novomatic AG has increased its stake in Australian slot maker Ainsworth Game Technology Ltd to nearly 60 percent, as the former seeks to acquire the shares it does not currently control in Ainsworth.
The Novomatic group and its founder and owner, Johann Graf, now control 59.8 percent of Ainsworth’s shares, following a string of acquisitions since late August, according to a Friday filing by Ainsworth.
The increase was effected via on-market acquisitions of Ainsworth shares, as well as acquisition of relevant interest in shares as a result of acceptances of the off-market takeover offer made by Novomatic. That is per Friday’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
Novomatic in August made an “off market” and “unconditional” takeover bid of AUD1.00 (US$0.645) apiece for the shares that it does not currently control in Ainsworth.
The offer price for Ainsworth shares implied an equity value of approximately AUD336.83 million on a fully diluted basis, according to a recent statement published by Ainsworth.
Last week, an independent board committee of Ainsworth “unanimously” recommended that Ainsworth’s shareholders accept Novomatic’s takeover bid.
The committee said at the time that the offer price represented “a significant premium” to the trading price of Ainsworth’s shares, and provided “full liquidity through an all-cash offer”.
It also flagged that the independent expert appointed to advise on the deal had “concluded that the takeover offer is fair and reasonable to Ainsworth shareholders, in the absence of a superior proposal”.
In late August, Novomatic and Ainsworth announced the termination of a separate scheme implementation deed, which had been proposed in April. Via the scheme transaction, Novomatic had also intended to acquire the shares it does not currently control in Ainsworth.
