Zeal shareholders approve Lotto24 takeover offer despite Lottoland backlash
The operator’s proposed Lotto24 takeover gets 60% of shareholder vote after Lottoland counter bid is rejected
Zeal shareholders today voted to approve the planned 100% takeover of German lottery business Lotto24 despite opposition from shareholder and competitor Lottoland.
Zeal shareholders voted 60% in favour of the required capital increase this morning and the acceptance period is expected to start by the end of the month.
Zeal CEO Dr Helmut Becker said: “Our plan to reunite Zeal and Lotto24 offers a fantastic opportunity for sustainable growth and creates significant value – for shareholders of both companies, customers and the German Federal States and their lottery beneficiaries.
“We are pleased that Zeal’s shareholders share our vision and today approved the important preconditions which now enable us to make our offer for Lotto24.
“We look forward to launching our offer to Lotto24 shareholders shortly and to bringing our organisations together.
“The combination of Zeal and Lotto24 will create the leading private digital lottery broker in Germany, setting us up for strong growth in Germany and internationally,” he added.
The proposed deal looked to be in some difficulty last week when Zeal shareholder and Lottoland CEO Nigel Birrell published an open letter, insisting the takeover did not provide value for Zeal shareholders, before submitting a counter offer for Zeal’s German lottery betting business.
But Lottoland’s late bid was rejected by Zeal, with Becker describing the offer as “an attempt to buy our core German assets on the cheap”.
As part of the general meeting, 51% of shareholders also voted to waive the requirement on Günther Group (which will own more than 30% of the combined group after completion) to make a full takeover offer for Zeal.
In response, Birrell said: “We are disappointed with the result of today’s general meeting.
“With resolution number two turning out to be very close with only 51% votes in favour and 49% voting against, we do not believe the outcome provides a clear mandate from the shareholders of Zeal to take the transaction forward.
“Especially given the fact that without the votes of the Lotto24 shareholders, this would not have been approved.
“This highlights what we have expressed all along– that the Lotto24 shareholders are the only ones that will benefit from this transaction; and that the transaction is value destroying for Zeal shareholders,” he added.