Interactive

Germany – ZEAL close to all-share voluntary takeover of Lotto24

Approximately 91.8 per cent of Lotto24 AG shareholders have accepted ZEAL Networks’ all-share voluntary takeover offer and tendered their shares during the regular acceptance period, which ended on 10 April 2019.

As all offer conditions have been satisfied, shareholders can take advantage of an additional two-week acceptance period until 29 April to accept the offer for their remaining Lotto24 shares. Lotto24 shareholders will receive one new ZEAL share in exchange for 1.604 shares of Lotto24.

Shareholders in the combined group will be able to benefit from increased efficiencies between both companies, significant cost synergies at ZEAL due to the change of its core business model, and any potential future growth.

Dr Helmut Becker, Chief Executive, ZEAL, said: “We are pleased that the vast majority of Lotto24 shareholders has accepted our offer and bought into our strategic vision. We look forward to welcoming them as new ZEAL shareholders. By reuniting with Lotto24 and transforming our core German business to digital lottery brokerage, we are creating a strong platform for ZEAL’s sustainable and accelerated growth. We invite all remaining Lotto24 shareholders to also tender their shares and become part of our combined future success. ZEAL and Lotto24 have already made strong progress on preparing the integration and are ready to execute on the plan.”

ZEAL initially announced its intention on 19 November 2018 to reunite with Lotto24 through an all share voluntary takeover. Following its shareholders’ approval, ZEAL published its takeover offer on 31 January 2019. On 8 February 2019, the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior granted Lotto24 a supplement to its existing brokerage permit, allowing for lottery tickets to be brokered via the Tipp24.de and Tipp24.com domains.