5th Mar 2014 11:09
LONDON (Alliance News) - Online gaming software company Playtech PLC Wednesday said its founder Teddy Sagi had ended up selling a 15% stake in the business after strong demand for his share placing.
The company had said Tuesday that Sagi's Brickington Trading Ltd was proposing to sell about 29.3 million Playtech shares at 725 pence through a secondary placing. That would have represented a 10% stake and taken Sagi's total holding in the company he founded down to 39%.
However, Brickington agreed to increase the size of the placing to 45.0 million shares due to "overwhelming demand from existing and new investors," Playtech said. That has left it with 98.6 million shares, or a 33.6% shareholding. The sale banked Sagi GBP326 million.
Sagi founded the company in 1999 in Tartu, Estonia. He's a billionaire worth about USD2.5 billion, according to Forbes.
The shares were sold in a so-called accelerated book-building process, when little or no marketing is done.
Brickington has agreed not to dispose of any further shares for at least 12 months, unless it gets consent from Canaccord Genuity, Shore Capital and UBS, the managers of the placing.
Playtech shares were down 9% at 740 pence Wednesday morning, the biggest drop on the FTSE 250, as the placing price set a new benchmark.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @SteveMcGrath1
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