In a press release on 17th December, developer and supplier of casino and betting content NYX Gaming Group and the Manitoba-based private investment company Pollard Equities announced that the latter backs NYX takeover by Sci Games, a leading provider of products and services for the gambling industry. The announcement came shortly after the UK-headquartered online gambling operator Sky Betting & Gaming also greenlighted the forthcoming acquisition of NYX.
The acquisition of NYX by Sci Games seems to make yet another step forward Pollard Equities also gave its support to the idea. Pollard Equities is a minority shareholder company in NYX. As it can be recalled, at the end of November, Pollard decided to increase its stake in the Canadian company NYX and purchased 4 million fixed priced warrants/options of NYX Gaming’s ordinary shares. The company paid a fixed price C$0.03 per warrant and the whole deal amounted to a total of C$120,000. According to the press release, Pollard owns 8,621,300 ordinary shares of NYX and 4,000,000 warrants.
In September this year, it became clear that Toronto TSX-listed NYX is the takeover target of Nasdaq-listed Sci Games. However, all the minority shareholder companies should give their approval to the potential takeover deal. On 20th December, the company is set to hold a shareholder meeting in Las Vegas. All stakeholders will have the opportunity to vote for or against the Acquisition deal. Industry insiders claim that the acquisition of NYX by Sci Games is to be the main driver of NYX’s growth on the market.
The Acquisition Deal Gathers Momentum Among Shareholders
Apart from Sky Bet and Pollard Equities, two other shareholder companies in NYX also threw their support behind the proposal. Proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass Lewis and Co. also approved the takeover deal, advising the other shareholders to vote in favor of the Acquisition.
What raised the eyebrows of the industry experts was the conclusion of the legal battle between the UK gambling operator William Hill and NYX. On 10th November, William Hill announced that it took legal actions against NYX Gaming, hoping to stop the takeover deal. It is important to note that William Hill is a powerful shareholder in NYX as the company holds 32% of NYX’s ordinary shares.
NYX explained that the deal can be terminated, supposing that at least 51% of the shareholders disapprove it. Rumors started to swirl around that William Hill wanted to block the acquisition deal due to personal interests. As a result, NYX and Sci Games filed anti-trust suits against the British betting operators. Currently, the two parties seem to have found a solution to the problem and William Hills finally seems to be comfortable with the deal.
