Fortuna majority shareholder makes bid for remaining shares
Penta Investments, which owns a 68.25% stake, plans to de-list Fortuna and invest in growth
Fortuna Entertainment Group’s major shareholder Penta Investments is bidding to acquire the remaining shares in the operator and take the business private.
On Friday, Penta, which currently owns 68.25% of Fortuna through its Greek registered Fortbet subsidiary, lodged a tender offer to take 100% control of the business and de-list Fortuna from the Warsaw and Prague stock exchanges.
The offered price was PLN15.43 per share in Poland and CZK 98.69, which was 9% below the closing price on the previous day. The offer will run from 21 April to 20 June.
Penta said not having to pay dividends would enable it to invest additional funds in the business to power growth.
“Penta wants to concentrate on its [Fortuna’s] more intensive development, particularly in the markets of Central and South-eastern Europe,” a Penta spokesperson said. “These ambitious plans will affect the ability to pay Fortuna dividends.
“Total control over Fortuna will mean for the company faster development without complications,” the spokesperson added.
However, analysts were sceptical the bid would be sufficient for minority shareholders to sell, with Penta needing to get to the 95% shareholding mark in order to trigger the takeover.
One source EGR Intel spoke with saw the move as a pre-cursor to another deal, with Penta likely to sell the entire business on to another company looking to enter the liberalising region.
Recent re-regulation in some of Fortuna’s key markets such as Poland, Czech Republic and Romania has resulted in increased competition, both in retail and online, while the more liberalised frameworks has brought the region into focus for a number of major foreign operators.
Fortuna has in recent years suffered declining profits. In 2016, the firm posted EBITDA of €22.1m, which was a 19% decline on the previous year.
Last year it announced a major deal with supplier giant Playtech as it looked to improve product across all channels.
Fortuna declined to comment on the Penta bid when contacted by EGR Intel.