Shareholders Vote Against Consortium Binding Agreement After Gopher Raises Price by $80m in All Cash Offer, Which Represents a Significant Premium to the Consortium Deal
Finalto S.P.V. Ltd, the consortium as described previously and below (together the "Consortium"), today announces that following the Playtech plc (“Playtech”) General Meeting held today the Share Purchase Agreement for Finalto Group (“Finalto”) has been terminated. However, the Consortium has agreed to Playtech’s request to remain together for a further 30 days, thereby enabling Playtech to negotiate with Gopher Investments (“Gopher”) or any other buyer and make an informed recommendation to shareholders.
Gopher has stated publically that it is “prepared to perform only limited due diligence, anticipated to take no more than 3 weeks, before seeking to enter into a fully binding offer for Finalto” and will pay $250m plus a further $10m break fee1, so Playtech will have more than enough time to ascertain whether Gopher’s interest is indeed genuine.
If Playtech has not managed to enter into a fully binding agreement with Gopher within the next 3 weeks, it will be clear that Gopher’s interest is not genuine and the only credible transaction capable of concluding in the near term would be to the Consortium, which has already been recommended by Playtech multiple times.
The Consortium firmly believes that the Consortium Deal, negotiated after an onerous 18-month process led by UBS, involving extensive regulatory, financial and tax diligence, represents the only transaction capable of withstanding regulatory scrutiny and being concluded in the near term without material disruption and damage to the Finalto business.
The Consortium was disappointed that shareholders did not vote in favor of its deal at the General Meeting, however, the Consortium does understand the predicament faced by shareholders and certain parties, notably advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) and Glass Lewis, when assessing the situation. This was particularly the case given Gopher’s publications of what the Consortium believe to be misleading statements and indeed Playtech was compelled to issue corrections2 to Gopher’s false information.
With regard to ISS and Glass Lewis, the Consortium has been disappointed that despite multiple requests made to meet independently with the advisory firms to avail them of important information, they refused to do so. The Consortium is confident that a deal will not be forthcoming within the three weeks Gopher claims it will take and when this becomes clear, the Consortium will welcome the opportunity to engage directly with ISS and Glass Lewis in a constructive manner, which can only benefit Playtech shareholders. Playtech’s only option to sell Finalto within the next year will be to the Consortium, which Playtech has repeatedly recommended. In Playtech’s words, it has been an “elongated and thorough process”, and the Consortium was selected taking into account not just the price, but also its “ability to complete the transaction (particularly in light of the Finalto Business’ regulated status in multiple global jurisdictions).”
The Consortium’s previous announcements are available here (7 July 2021), here (9 July 2021) and here (2 August 2021)
-ENDS-
About the Consortium
The Consortium is a company incorporated in Israel, established for the purpose of acquiring the Finalto Business. The Consortium is being funded by a group consisting of Barinboim Group, Leumi Partners Limited and Menora Mivtachim Group and by senior secured debt financing from The Phoenix Insurance Company Limited and certain of its affiliates. The Consortium will be supported by key members of the Finalto Business' management team that will transfer with the Finalto Business, including Ron Hoffman (Chief Executive Officer of the Finalto Business) and Liron Greenbaum (Chief Operations Officer of the Finalto Business).
Barinboim Group is a private equity and venture capital firm based in Tel Aviv. Barinboim Group invests in companies operating in the media sectors.
Leumi Partners Limited is the merchant and investment banking arm of Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI), one of the two largest banking groups in Israel. Leumi Partners Limited is based in Tel Aviv and offers direct equity investment in sectors such as technology media and telecom, consumer & retail, and healthcare. Leumi Partners Limited's line of business includes conducting investments and providing services such as underwriting, financial analysis and research, strategic advice, mergers & acquisitions, and raising equity and debt.
Menora Mivtachim Group is one of Israel's five largest insurance & finance groups. The group specializes in asset management, manages the largest pension fund in Israel - and is the largest General Insurer in Israel and the market leader in Motor Insurance sector. The group operates through its subsidiaries, in all sectors of Life Insurance, Long/Mid/Short -Term Savings, General Insurance and Health Insurance. In addition, the group is active in the capital markets and finance sectors, including, Financial Portfolio Management, Underwriting and worldwide real estate investments.
2 4 August 2021, Response to Gopher press release of 3 August 2021, http://playtech-ir.production.investis.com/regulatory-news.aspx
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210818005628/en/
Contact information
For further information:
Investors:
Investor Update
Tony Quinn
+44 (0)7790 485 935
tquinn@investor-update.com
Patrick Mitchell
+44 (0)7974 079 785
pmitchell@investor-update.com
Media:
Kepler Communications
Charlotte Balbirnie
+44 (0)7989 528421
cbalbirnie@keplercomms.com
Caroline Villiers
+44 (0)7808 585184
cvilliers@keplercomms.com
The Consortium:
Ishai Drori
finalto@bgroup.co.il
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
EIG Acquires a 49.87% Stake in Transportadora de Gas del Perú (TgP)19.12.2025 19:42:00 EET | Press release
EIG, through its managed investment vehicles, acquired a 49.87% equity stake in Transportadora de Gas del Perú S.A. (“TgP”) from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board today. TgP operates Peru’s principal natural gas and natural gas liquids pipelines under a long-term concession, supplying approximately 40% of the country’s power generation. “We are delighted to complete this transaction and embark on the next chapter of our partnership with TgP,” said Matt Hartman, EIG’s Global Head of Infrastructure. “Our priority is to support TgP’s operational excellence and long-term stability, delivering value for customers and stakeholders throughout Peru.” About EIG EIG is a leading institutional investor in the global energy and infrastructure sectors with $24.3 billion assets under management as of September 30, 2025. EIG specializes in private investments in energy and energy-related infrastructure on a global basis. During its 43-year history, EIG has committed over $51.7 billion to the energ
CyberArk Named a Leader in IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Integrated Solutions for Identity Security 202519.12.2025 18:00:00 EET | Press release
CyberArk (NASDAQ: CYBR), the global leader in identity security, today announced that it has been recognized as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Integrated Solutions for Identity Security 2025 Vendor Assessment. CyberArk extends dynamic privilege controls across all identity types with its unified platform, enabling organizations to improve efficiencies and streamline security operations. This IDC MarketScape report notes, “More change has occurred in the identity security marketplace in the past two years than in almost a decade. Vendors are entering a new phase defined by the emergence of intelligence technologies, none of which are specifically defined by any industry standards. Though different by design, the new adjacent IAM offerings are largely focused on improved vulnerability and threat management visibility and automated and predictive attack detection capabilities.” It also notes, “By addressing these evolving identity types within a unified framework, CyberArk enh
New York Liberty and Ant International’s Alipay+ Announce Multiyear Partnership Focused on Empowerment, Sustainability and Youth Development19.12.2025 15:30:00 EET | Press release
The New York Liberty and Ant International’s Alipay+, a leading cross-border fintech services platform based in Singapore, today announced a multiyear partnership, making Alipay+ an Official Sponsor and Innovation Partner for Sustainability of the New York Liberty. Through this partnership, Alipay+ and the Liberty will jointly support community programs designed to advance community empowerment, environmental sustainability and youth development across New York City. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251219678825/en/ Peng Yang, CEO, Ant International and Clara Wu Tsai, Vice Chair, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment; Governor, New York Liberty “Our partnership with Alipay+ goes beyond the game,” said Keia Clarke, Chief Executive Officer, New York Liberty. “Together, we are investing in the future of New York—its people, its environment, and its youth. Ant International’s commitment to community empowerment, sustai
Parse Biosciences and Codebreaker Labs Partner to Apply Whole Transcriptome Single Cell Profiling and Causal Genomics at Scale19.12.2025 15:00:00 EET | Press release
Parse Biosciences, the leading provider of scalable and accessible single cell sequencing solutions, today announced a collaboration with Codebreaker Labs to develop and validate a breakthrough platform capable of testing thousands of genetic variants in parallel and measuring their effects at single cell resolution. By combining Codebreaker’s synthetic biology platform and variant engineering capabilities with the scale and accessibility of Parse’s Evercode™ technology, the collaboration aims to generate the causal data increasingly sought by AI developers, drug discovery teams, and clinical researchers. Today’s genomic studies rely heavily on observational data, or variants that appear in large populations. But rare and private variants, often only seen in one individual or family, are nearly impossible to study this way because too few carriers of the variant exist to draw statistically meaningful conclusions. As a result, even the most advanced models trained on observational datas
Cyviz Awarded Two Classified NATO Defense Contracts19.12.2025 09:00:00 EET | Press release
Norwegian technology and platform company Cyviz AS has been awarded two classified defense contracts by major European NATO-partner nations to deliver a fully mobile, containerised Command & Control (C2) capability, strengthening Europe’s operational readiness in high-threat and expeditionary environments. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251218625485/en/ Image from a previous military exercise where Cyviz demonstrated a mobile command center solution. The contracts cover the design, integration, and delivery of secure, deployable operations centres engineered to NATO security standards, enabling military and security forces to establish full theatre-class command capability wherever operations require. Due to the sensitive nature of the missions, contract value and customer identities remain undisclosed. From Demonstrated Readiness to Operational Deployment The awards follow growing interest among European def
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom