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Playtech founder to bank £212m from share sale
Gaming software group announces founder and 49pc shareholder, Teddy Sagi, plans to sell 10pc of his holding via an accelerated bookbuild.
Teddy Sagi, the Israeli billionaire founder of Playtech, is adding a further £212m to his wealth after announcing plans to sell 10pc of his stake in the gaming software group.
In a release issued after the close of markets, Playtech said Mr Sagi, who owns 49pc of the company, is selling 29.3m shares - equivalent to 10pc of his holding - at 725p a share.
Shares in the group closed prior to the announcement at 814p, after reaching a record high of 836.5p last week.
The sale, via an accelerated bookbuild open to both existing and new investors, comes after Playtech last week announced a record pay-out to shareholders for 2013, which will earn Mr Sagi £76m.
Canaccord Genuity, Shore Capital and UBS are joint runners for the transaction, which will close “no later” than 4.30pm on Wednesday.
Mr Sagi founded Playtech in 1999 and floated it on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 at 257p a share.
He will remain by far the largest shareholder in the software group via his investment vehicle, Brickington. The gaming chief has agreed not to sell any further Playtech shares for at least a year without the prior consent of all three of the bookrunners.
In Tuesday's statement, Playtech stressed Brickington remains a “committed” shareholder. BlackRock is currently Playtech’s second largest shareholder with 5.4pc.
Prior to the announcement, Forbes magazine estimated Mr Sagi’s fortune at around $2.5bn (£1.5bn).
Playtech developed a colourful reputation in the City after buying a number of businesses from its owner but the group has had the biggest bookmakers in the business queuing up to work with it.
It helped to grow William Hill’s successful digital division before switching sides to its rival, Ladbrokes, last year after the former agreed to pay £424m for Playtech’s 29pc stake in William Hill Online.
Meanwhile, Paddy Power has forecast the UK betting market will undergo significant consolidation later this year, as the industry braces for the introduction of a 15pc online gaming tax in December.
The bookie estimates a fifth of the UK digital betting market is currently occupied by operators with an online operating profit margin of less than 15pc.