GGRAsia – Sci Games boosts stake in target NYX Gaming to 36pct

Sci Games boosts stake in target NYX Gaming to 36pct

Nov 24, 2017 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

Casino equipment supplier and lottery services business Scientific Games Corp on Friday said it had increased its stake in target business NYX Gaming Group Ltd to the equivalent of approximately 36.01 percent of the latter’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares.

On Tuesday Scientific Games stated it had for the first time acquired an equity holding in NYX Gaming – a specialist in sports betting – equal to 10.72 percent of its issued and outstanding ordinary shares.

The latest transaction – involving acquisition of NYX Gaming ordinary shares, warrants and exchangeable preferred shares from four existing stockholders – cost Scientific Games just over CAD87.7 million (US$68.9 million), taking its spending on stock acquisition in the target to CAD114.8 million in just a few days.

Scientific Games acquired a total of nearly 27.38 million ordinary shares of NYX Gaming, approximately 3.54 million warrants and 40,000 exchangeable preferred shares, in the latest deal, it said.

“If all of such warrants and exchangeable preferred shares were exercised and exchanged, Scientific Games would own 51,685,578 ordinary shares, representing 42.74 percent of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares [in NYX Gaming],” the suitor added in its Friday announcement.

In the most recent deal, Scientific Games paid CAD2.40 per ordinary share, compared to payments in the range of CAD2.22 to CAD2.35 per share in the earlier transaction.

“In the future, Scientific Games may acquire additional ordinary shares or securities convertible into ordinary shares or dispose of such securities,” the suitor noted.

The gaming technology group had in September flagged a CAD775-million tilt for NYX Gaming, a sum that includes paying off the target’s outstanding debt.