Paddy Power shareholders back buyout
Shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Sportsbet purchase at the Irish firm's Extraordinary General Meeting today.
Paddy Power’s shareholders have today voted overwhelmingly in favour of the proposed buyout of its remaining Sportsbet shares.
Following the company’s Extraordinary General Meeting in Dublin this morning, Breon Corcoran, COO at the Irish operator, told eGaming Review the decision to complete the acquisition of the remaining 39.2% of shares in the Australian bookmaker was near-unanimous. “99.99% of our shareholders came down in favour of the buyout, which will proceed over the coming weeks,” he said.
“The whole process has been successful from the get-go,” added Corcoran, who also revealed that more details about the EGM would follow when Paddy Power announces its 2010 results on 7 March.
Paddy Power acquired a controlling 51% stake of Sportsbet “ licenced in Australia’s Northern Territories “ in 2009, and acquired a further 9.8% in February 2010, before agreeing on an initial consideration of AU$132.6m 100.9m) for the remainder of the shares in December.
The Australian Foreign Investment Review Board approved the buyout earlier this month, meaning the approval of the shareholders was the last obstacle before it could be completed.
The 100.9m payment is broken down into 83.8m in cash, the issue of 14.1m in new shares, and assuming a 3m obligation to certain Sportsbet employees.