The entertainment firm, formerly recognized as GVC Holdings, has extended the final date for its takeover proposal for Enlabs from February 18th to March 18th.
The firm states that the completion of the acquisition is contingent upon obtaining all necessary regulatory, governmental, or similar authorizations, including those from competition and gambling authorities.
The company has applied for the required authorizations, but due to the timing of the review process, it is not anticipated to receive all such authorizations within the acceptance period concluding on February 18th.
As a result, the company has chosen to extend the acceptance period to 5 pm CET on March 18th, 2021.
The firm states that if it is able to declare on March 23rd that the conditions of the offer have been satisfied or waived, settlement is expected to commence around March 30th.
All other terms and conditions as outlined in the offer document will continue to be applicable throughout the extended acceptance period.
The company made its offer to acquire Enlabs on January 7th, with the deal valued at £250 million (€285.1 million/$345.7 million). The cash offer would see the company pay 40 Swedish kronor (£3.48/€3.97/$4.81) for each of Enlabs’ 69.9 million shares.
The company asserted that the takeover aligns perfectly with its expansion plan to penetrate previously unexplored local regulated markets.
Upon revealing its rebranding from GVC to Entain, the company promised that all of its income would originate from regulated markets by the year 2023.
Entain declared that the acquisition is completely in sync with its strategic direction, as Enlabs is a prominent operator in Latvia, the second largest operator in Estonia and one of the top five operators in Lithuania.
Entain presented a complete takeover proposal for Enlabs on January 20 and declared that it has no intentions to implement significant alterations to the company’s operations, leadership or workforce.
Although Entain’s board and shareholders holding 42.2% of Enlabs endorsed the agreement, shareholders holding 10.7% of Enlabs declined the offer, labeling it a “serious underestimation” of the company’s value and concluding that the takeover is advantageous for Entain but not for Enlabs’ minority shareholders.
Sign up for the iGaming newsletter.