MGM’s acquisition of LeoVegas is but a formality after the US casino giant took control of 98.07% of the outstanding shares in the Stockholm-listed operator.
Before the offer was declared unconditional, MGM announced that it had already been accepted by shareholders with a total of 63,047,289 shares in LeoVegas, corresponding to approximately 64.56% of outstanding shares in the business.
Now, following an extended acceptance period lasting until 14 September, the $604m (SEK61 per share) offer first lodged in May by MGM was accepted by shareholders with a total of 2,320,120 shares in LeoVegas.
This corresponded to approximately 2.38% of the outstanding shares in the company, handing over 95,767,409 shares in LeoVegas to MGM as a result.
MGM has now initiated a compulsory acquisition procedure in accordance with the Swedish Companies Act to acquire all LeoVegas shares that were not tendered by the offer.
An application filed by LeoVegas to delist its shares from the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange was accepted on 8 September 2022.22 September has now been confirmed as the last day for trading LeoVegas shares on Nasdaq Stockholm, with the acquisition scheduled to complete on the same day.
The acquisition is expected to diversify MGM’s online gambling operation outside of the US and into other operational markets including Europe via the LeoVegas brand.
The purchase will also see MGM gain access to the operator’s proprietary casino software which has been built on an in-house platform called Rhino.
“The completion of this transaction represents a major milestone for MGM Resorts as we continue to pursue our strategy of growing our online gaming footprint worldwide,” said MGM Resorts CEO & president Bill Hornbuckle earlier this month.
“We look forward to welcoming the LeoVegas team and are excited to begin working with them to grow our global digital gaming business and maximise the full potential of our omni-channel strategy,” he added.
