NYX shares drop almost 20% on fears Hills could block Scientific Games deal

NYX Gaming shares plunged by 18% this morning amid fears William Hill could block the supplier from being bought by Scientific Games.

NYX issued a statement to the market yesterday, claiming Hills has indicated it will vote against and effectively block the SG acquisition if it does not get favourable commercial agreements with NYX following the takeover.

NYX’s OpenBet platform is Hills’ key technology provider, with Hills having invested around £90m in NYX to help it acquire OpenBet last year.

The investment was seen at the time as a way to ensure Hills remained a priority customer for OpenBet – a position it could potentially lose when NYX is taken over by SG.

And NYX said yesterday that Hills had been negotiating with SG to secure favourable commercial arrangements going forward, including rights to a copy of NYX source code and certain anti-competitive arrangements in US jurisdictions.

In return, Hills would reportedly support the SG takeover of NYX.

If not, NYX alleged Hills would convert its convertible bonds in NYX, acquired during the OpenBet deal, to ordinary shares and vote against the deal.

Hills issued its own statement following the NYX release, saying it was still considering the SG acquisition and no decision had been made.

The operator also refuted “in the strongest terms” that any anti-competitive measure had been requested.

Hills did confirm it requested its convertible bond be converted to ordinary shares, giving it voting powers, a transaction which NYX said represented an almost £30m loss on Hills initial £80m investment.

Following the conversion, Hills will own 31.9% of the ordinary shares of NYX.

The vote on the SG takeover is scheduled for 7 December.