Bally’s Intralot submits firm offer for all shares of evoke

Deal values evoke at £243.1m

Bally’s Intralot has reached an agreement on the terms and conditions of a recommended all-share acquisition of evoke, valuing the company at £243.1m, and has entered into a co-operation agreement.

evoke, whose brands include William Hill, 888 and Mr Green, recently reported its second consecutive year of profitable growth on an adjusted basis, however, loss after tax increased by 149 per cent from £220.9m to £549.1m, and the group’s debt for the year was registered at £1.9bn.

The acquisition is intended to be effected by means of a scheme of arrangement between evoke and evoke shareholders under Part VIII of the Gibraltar Companies Act. The deal will be structured as a takeover offer under Part XA (including s.352A) of the Gibraltar Companies Act to evoke shareholders, subject to the terms of the Co-operation Agreement. The Acquisition is conditional on the approval by evoke shareholders of the scheme of arrangement and the approval by the company’s shareholders of a resolution to authorise the issue of new shares in the company to the evoke shareholders in connection with the acquisition.

The acquisition is expected to conclude between the final quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027
and is subject to terms and conditions which, if not fulfilled or waived, may delay and/or preclude its
conclusion.

Sokratis Kokkalis, Chairman of the BoD of Bally’s Intralot, stated: “Today marks the beginning of a major new chapter for our company with the submission of a binding offer for the acquisition of evoke, aimed at creating a very strong global player in the gaming industry. This move demonstrates the new momentum our company has gained, justifying the trust shown to us by the investment community.”

Bally’s Intralot CEO and Director Robeson Reeves said: “Evoke is an interesting business with a large presence in the UK online, the high street bookmakers and their international business. What’s excellent is the mix that you see in these companies. We understand the UK exceptionally well. We don’t necessarily understand some of these other markets as well as I would like. So we’re fortunate that you can look at M&A with a single lens on actually essentially applying your business model just to the UK market. You can pick up other territories for free. So you almost end up with diversification coming as a byproduct of being very efficient in what I consider the best-regulated market in the world because it’s got wonderful barriers, wonderful frictions, but we’re very good at navigating that.

“With respect to retail, over time, due to things such as FOBT stake limits and COVID, the actual number of bookmakers on the high street has massively reduced over time. I think it’s important to have a presence in retail. I think it’s a good business. It needs to work very much hand-in-hand with online. You need to make sure that your customers, if possible, can be fluid between both online and retail.”