Eddie Jordan has teamed up with former Boylesports CEO Keith O’Loughlin to spearhead a £3bn approach for Playtech, a London-listed provider of software to the online gaming industry.
n a statement, the Eddie Jordan Family Office and Keith O’Loughlin said their JKO Play consortium is evaluating making a competing offer for Playtech, setting them up for a bidding war with two rivals that have already made approaches..
Sky News, which first reported the news, said the Eddie Jordan consortium is lining up a more than £3bn (€3.56bn) bid. That’s well ahead of an offer already on the table from Australia’s Aristocrat Leisure which values the business at £2.7bn and has the backing of the Playtech board.
The other would-be bidder, Gopher, is Playtech’s second biggest shareholder.
The massive size of their approach and Playtech’s stock market listing mean the deal will play out in public, and catapult the Irish pair behind JKO into the spotlight.
Formula One legend Eddie Jordan started his working life at Bank of Ireland in Mullingar but he made his fortune as owner of Formula One’s Team Jordan, sold in 2005 for a reported €75m.
He’s been associated with various businesses since then. In 2012 he bought venerable British publisher Debrett’s, which is famous for it guides to etiquette and peerages and less well known for niche insurance and investment products.
He had a stake in Ireland’s Valeo Foods at one stage, as well as various property and sporting assets and interests in high finance and hedge funds.
He’s also presented Channel 4’s Top Gear in the UK and fronted BBC coverage of Formula One.
His partner in JKO, Keith O’Loughlin, is a veteran of the gaming industry, having worked with a clatter of the biggest names in the rapidly globalising sector, including running US giant Scientific Games’ sports betting arm after stints at Ladbrokes Coral, where he was chief product officer, and BoyleSports.
Yesterday, news of the Jordan offer pushed shares in Playtech up 4.4pc to 773.5 pence, well up on Aristocrat’s agreed 680-pence-per-share offer.
Playtech said JKO had indicated it was in talks with New York-based Centerbridge Partners and others to fund its approach.
Discussions with JKO were at an early stage and there was no certainty that they would result in an offer, it added.
The third bid shakes up an already intense bidding process. Last month Playtech had agreed to be bought by Aristocrat, which makes gaming machines as well as software used by the industry, but later received another approach from Gopher and opened talks that are still ongoing.
While Aristocrat’s offer is lower, it said yesterday that it has financing and gambling licences in place already and is continuing to work with Playtech to implement the recommended acquisition.
“The regulatory approval process is on track with the timetable previously announced, and Aristocrat is focused on progressing this quickly,” it said.