Playtech Estonia to stay put following sale to Australian slot-machine firm
The €3.2-billion sale of gambling software firm Playtech to an Australian company will not affect the company's operations in Estonia, the company says.
Ivo Lasn, Playtech Estonia manager, told BNS that: "Playtech will remain Playtech, and for us it will be business as usual," adding that this continuity included hiring and other processes and strategies.
Australian slot-machine maker Aristocrat Leisure Ltd has bid €3.2 billion for Playtech Plc.
Playtech Estonia is at the moment hiring software developers, international project managers and testers, BNS reports.
Playtech Estonia employed just under 600 people at the end of the third quarter of this year, data on the Commercial Register says, while worldwide, the company employs around 7,000 people in 24 countries.
The parent company of Playtech Group is Playtech Plc, registered on the Isle of Man and listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Ownership of the Estonian arm belongs to a holding company registered in Cyprus.
Playtech founder, billionaire businessman Tedi Sagi, was recently the subject of a foiled assassination plot, also on Cyprus, media reports say.
Lasn says the takeover will greater value, as Aristocrat's main focus has been mechanical slot machines, while Playtech has been more active in online gambling, and the company will be able to progress with its development strategy after the deal is signed.
Aristocrat has received the go-ahead documentation from investors owning 20.7 percent of Playtech's outstanding shares, including its largest owner, the company said on Monday.
The offer values London-listed Playtech at 680 pence per share, a premium of about 58 percent to the company's last closing price on October 15, Aristocrat said on Monday.
Playtech Estonia is supposedly one of the country's half-dozen unicorns to have emerged over the past 16 years, with others including voice-over-internet-protocol software company Skype and fintech firm Wise, Invest in Estonia says.
Invest in Estonia also puts the six unicorns out of a population of 1.3 million at 4.6 unicorns per capita, whereas the actual figure (i.e. six divided by 1,300,000) comes to 0.0000046 unicorns per capita.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
