Intecq rebuffs $100m offer from Spain’s WIN Systems
THE AUSTRALIAN
MARCH 23, 2016 12:00AM
Mergers & Acquisitions Editor
Sydney
Gaming services business Intecq is understood to have received a takeover offer of close to $100 million from Spain’s WIN Systems, in another sign of the increasing merger and acquisition activity within the sector. DataRoom has established that WIN sent ASX-listed Intecq an offer in December but the target’s board was reluctant to engage and so the approach was not disclosed.
WIN executives, including chief executive Eric Benchimol, subsequently travelled to Australia earlier this month but were still unable to entice Intecq to the negotiating table.
Intecq has a market capitalisation of $75 million but is owned by some of the country’s biggest fund managers, including Perpetual and IOOF holdings.
It’s believed WIN was open to paying a 30 per cent premium, which would imply a bid of around $100m at Intecq’s share price of $4.24.
Intecq’s shares are trading at just 9.2 times earnings, according to Bloomberg, so the board may have judged WIN’s offer to be opportunistic.
Intecq, formerly known as eBet, provides player loyalty and tracking systems, cashless gaming systems and back-office productivity tools for pubs, clubs and casinos.
WIN provides casino, poker machine and lottery systems, with offices in Barcelona, Rome, New York, Beijing, Mexico City and Buenos Aires.
Former Nine Entertainment chief operating officer Simon Kelly joined the Intecq board this month, reuniting him with the company’s chairman, Paul Oneile. Kelly was chief financial officer at Aristocrat Leisure when Oneile was the poker machine group’s chief executive.
Intecq reported half-year net profit of $2.9m, up 54 per cent for the half-year to December 31, 2015.
ITQ Price at posting:
$4.24 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
