GGRAsia – Sci Games nears US$3bln lotteries IPO in Australia: report

Sci Games nears US$3bln lotteries IPO in Australia: report

Oct 21, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

Casino slot machine, electronic table games and online gaming content provider Scientific Games Corp is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) of its worldwide lotteries business on the Australian bourse, that could raise circa AUD4 billion (US$3 billion), reports Bloomberg, citing people said to have knowledge of the matter.

Of the aggregate Scientific Games is looking to raise, AUD1.3 billion would be from “cornerstone” investors, according to the sources quoted by the media outlet.

The share sale process, valuing the lotteries unit at about 14 times earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), could start this week, according to Wednesday’s report.

Scientific Games management has told prospective investors that its instant games business had a 69 percent share of the US$101-billion United States market, according to company presentations obtained by Bloomberg.

In June, Las Vegas, Nevada-based Scientific Games said it was looking at divesting itself of the group’s lotteries and sports-betting units via either: a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC); via sale; or via a strategic link up with another business, as it worked to reduce its corporate debt.

Scientific Games also made a proposal to acquire the remaining 19 percent of equity interest in digital gaming company SciPlay Corp that it does not currently own.

As of June 30, the face value of long-term debt for Scientific Games was US$9.14 billion, according to its second-quarter results, published in early August.

In late September, Scientific Games said it had struck a deal to get US$1 billion in cash and US$200 million in stock from Endeavor Group Holdings Inc, a sports and entertainment firm, for the latter to acquire control of Scientific Games’ OpenBet sports betting platform.

In September last year, it had been revealed that control of Scientific Games was changing hands, with the sale of a 34.9-percent stake – that had been held by financier Ronald Perelman – to other parties including Caledonia, a global investment firm that had also at some stage been an investor in the Australian slot machine brand Aristocrat.

Following the deal, Jamie Odell, a former chief executive of Australia-listed Aristocrat Leisure Ltd, was brought in to Scientific Games as its executive chair.