Supplier News
US – Scientific Games shareholder, Ron Perelman, explores sale
By Lewis - 15 July 2020
The Executive Chairman of the Board of Scientific Games Corporation (SGMS), Ron Perelman, is exploring the sale of his 39 per cent shareholding in the company through his holding company, MacAndrews & Forbes. MacAndrews has filed a 13F document, stating that it is exploring the monetisation of equity holdings, which could potentially include SGMS, but does not specifically target the company among a host of businesses within Mr. Perelman’s portfolio.
A statement from MacAndrews and Forbes notes that the company has “decided to reset MacAndrews & Forbes in a manner that will give us maximum flexibility both financially and personally. This will allow us to be opportunistic and flexible in looking at new situations.”
The 13F document noted that while MacAndrew & Forbes is exploring the sale of the 39 per cent shareholding in SGMS, nothing is set or imminent. The company is exploring the sale of its holdings, which is not specific to SGMS. Bloomberg News notes that Mr. Perelman is looking to rework his holdings due to Covid-19 disruption in the marketplace and is resetting his investment holdings as a result.
Sun Trust Robinson analyst, Barry Jonas, notes MacAndrews & Forbes does not appear to be a forced seller on a tight timeline and would likely look to maximise proceeds should they exit.” Mr. Jonas also argues that spinning out SGMS’ digital business could individually unlock meaningful value and be worth US$5bn alone as an IPO of the digital division. However, Bloomberg News calculated the sales of Mr. Perelman’s 36.8 million shares in Scientific Games to be worth US$1.5bn.
The news comes as Scientific Games announced it will release results for its second quarter on July 23, 2020 as part of an investor conference call and webcast.
